KARACHI, Jan 17: The Sindh High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a bail application moved by deputy inspector-general of police Altaf Hussain Bhatti, who is facing trial in a 500-acre land scam case.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleges that the DIG secured the allotment of 500 acres of state land in the district of Thatta while he was posted as Anti-Corruption SSP at Hyderabad.
Arguing for the grant of bail to the accused, advocate Amer Raza Naqvi submitted before a division bench comprising Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi that Mr Bhatti had nothing to do with the dubious allotments, and that he merely purchased 24 acres for valuable consideration paid to the seller, who has confirmed the transaction.
NAB counsel Ainuddin Khan opposed the plea, saying that the illegal allotments were made to individuals related to the accused and he was the ultimate beneficiary. It was for the trial accountability court to assess the evidence and the accused, being an influential police officer, could influence the witnesses.
On the pre-arrest bail applications moved by the two revenue officials accused in the case, the bench restrained the NAB from arresting them until January 22, when their plea for interim bail would come up for hearing. Former tapedar Rahim Khan and ex-mukhtiarkar Usman Memon are alleged to have facilitated the illegal allotments by manipulating the revenue record. Representing the accused, advocate Amer Raza Naqvi submitted that they were also innocent and the prosecution had failed to link them with the commission of the alleged offence. The applications were opposed by the NAB counsel.
The bench reserved its order on the bail application of another accountability accused, Kaukab Sabahuddin, former additional collector of customs. He has been arraigned for accumulating assets beyond the known sources of his income. He is alleged to have Rs8 million in bank deposits. His counsel said the amount actually belonged to his former wife, who has an independent source of income.
Oct 18 FIR
The provincial government’s appeal against a sessions order for the registration of a second FIR in the October 18 bomb blast case upon the complaint of the late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was on Thursday adjourned to a date in office.
The operation of the impugned order, passed by district and sessions judge Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan (since elevated to the high court), was stayed by the Sindh High Court pending hearing of the government’s revision application. As the application came up for hearing before Chief Justice Mohammed Afzal Soomro, advocate Farooq H. Naek, Ms Bhutto’s counsel, was represented by advocate Adnan Karim while assistant advocate-general Arshad Lodhi appeared for the government in place of former acting advocate-general Masood A. Noorani. The hearing was adjourned and the stay order extended until the next date.
PPP damages suit
Meanwhile, the hearing of a suit of damages instituted by the late PPP chairperson against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and his accountability chief Saifur Rehman Khan, was also adjourned to date in office by Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui. The plaintiff had said that the defendants had unleashed a vilification campaign against her to damage her reputation and standing as a political leader. She had submitted that the state media and funds were utilised to further a partisan political vendetta.
The suit was filed through advocate Kamal Azfar; his associate Sardar Ahmad Khan sought adjournment on his behalf.
KBCA libel suit
The Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has sued a weekly publication for damages amounting to Rs50 million for publishing defamatory and baseless allegations against it and its official. The authority said that copies of the weekly Yahoo, carrying malicious charges against KBCA chief controller and the building controllers of 18 towns, were being sent to high officials who then sought comments from the KBCA office.
KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan moved an application for the urgent hearing of the suit and Justice Khalid Ali Z. Qazi issued a notice to the defendant for January 30.
Child custody case
Meanwhile another division bench, comprising Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, asked a doctor couple to restore a child’s custody to her parents.
According to petitioner Abdul Ghaffar Bhutto of Larkana and his wife, Mst Naseem, a daughter was born to them in November 2005. The couple visited Karachi and gave the baby (named Shua) in the custody of Ghaffar’s brother, Dr Abdul Mannan Bhutto and his wife, Dr Shakila Shaikh, who run a medical centre in Gulshan-i-Hadeed. The issueless couple advised Ghaffar and his wife to let the baby stay under their supervision at their medical centre for proper treatment for a month.
The doctor couple, however, declined to restore custody of Shua to her parents after the expiry of the initial period of one month or any time thereafter. The parents initiated legal proceedings but their suit was dismissed by the Malir district judge on the grounds of jurisdiction and they moved a writ petition in the high court. Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan A. Siddiqui, who was present in the courtroom in another case when the petition came up for hearing, told the bench that the petition was maintainable as denial of parental care was a violation of the child’s fundamental rights. Besides, he said, adoption was prohibited under the law of Islam.
The bench asked the foster parents to restore the child’s custody to the real parents within 15 days.
Free will marriage
The bench comprising Justices Memon and Ahmed also restrained the police from arresting Murad of Matiari, Hyderabad, and Mst Sardaran, who claim to have solemnised their marriage against the wishes of the woman’s parents.
The couple fled Matiari and took refuge in Karachi after a case was registered against Murad and the Matiari police started chasing them. The woman’s father claims that she is a minor and therefore incapable of contracting a marriage.
The bench ordered the medical examination of petitioner Sardaran to ascertain her age.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.