PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has summoned the high-ups of traffic police for responding to a petition against transporters for allegedly charging commuters exorbitant fares on different inter-provincial routes.

It fixed Oct 26 for the next hearing into the petition of lawyer Khanzada Khan on the matter directing the deputy inspector general and the senior superintendent of the traffic police to appear before it to highlight the steps taken for checking the overcharging of commuters.

During the hearing, a bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Shakeel Ahmad observed that people frequently approached the court due to the failure of the government to resolve their vital issues, so it had to perform the tasks assigned to the government and the police.

Petitioner Khanzada Khan said the transporters had been charging commuters exorbitant fares due to the indifference of the relevant authorities.

Asks DIG, SP of traffic police to highlight steps taken by them to address issue

He said he regularly visited Peshawar from Mardan and noticed that the traffic police and transport department didn’t perform their duties properly and therefore, the transporters acted in illegal manners.

Additional advocate general Mohammad Arshid appeared for the government.

The bench asked him whether he had the fare list of different routes and what the officially fixed fare from Peshawar to Mardan was.

The AAG replied that the official fare fixed from Peshawar to Mardan was Rs152.

However, the petitioner said he had to pay Rs170 to a coaster for coming to Peshawar from Mardan in the morning.

He added that the issue caused heated exchanges between passengers and transporters.

The AAG said it was the responsibility of the administration and police to check illegal acts of transporters.

The bench observed that the problem prevailed not only in Peshawar and Mardan but transporters operating on inter-provincial routes also fleeced commuters.

BAIL GRANTED: Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar of a single-member Peshawar High Court benchhas granted bail to a man arrested on the charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman.

The bench accepted the bail petition of suspect Mohammad Yaseen on the condition of furnishing Rs200,000 worth of surety bonds.

Initially, a the brother-in-law of the alleged assault victim had lodged a complaint with the Madyan police station in Swat wherein he had alleged that his sister-in-law was enticed away by a person along with her two-year-old daughter on Jan 28, 2022.

He had alleged that the victim had also taken away Rs300,000 and 13 tolas of gold ornaments with her.

During a raid at a residence, the victim was recovered. After her recovery, she charged the instant petitioner for kidnapping and sexually assaulting her.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that his client was not charged in the FIR and was subsequently implicated in the case.

He argued that the complainant had initially not charged anyone for kidnapping the woman and had instead claimed that she had enticed away with someone, but later on they had made it a case of kidnapping and rape.

The bench observed that the mode and manner of her alleged abduction by the petitioner from Swat to Peshawar narrated by the victim prima facie suggested that she had left her home with her free will and consent as she had neither resisted her alleged abduction nor made any hue and cry at the relevant time.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2022