LAHORE, Sept 13: Justice Rustam Ali Malik, a member of the special division bench of the Lahore High Court, on Monday declined for personal reasons to hear the writ petition seeking the cancellation of the bail of DIG Malik Muhammad Iqbal and 14 others involved in the Sialkot jail firing incident.

The incident took place on July 25 last year in which four civil judges were killed. The bench, headed by Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, has referred the petition to the chief justice with the request that a new bench may be constituted to hear the plea submitted by Chaudhry Muhammad Yosuf Aujla, now serving as the judge of an anti-terrorist court in Faisalabad. He was Sialkot's senior civil judge when he submitted the petition.

Civil judges Asif Mumtaz Cheema, Syed Shehryar Bokhari, Shahid Munir Ranjha and Sagheer Anwar were among those killed in the Sialkot jail when, on an inspection visit, they were taken hostage by some inmates along with 39 others and the police started firing to secure their liberty.

This is the second time a LHC judge has declined to hear the petition for personal reasons. Naeemullah Khan Sherwani (now retired), who was with Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Husain on the division bench, was the first to do so in March this year.

Another LHC division bench, comprising Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Husain, had in January this year rejected the bail application of Sialkot jail superintendent Sikandar Hayat, dismissing his plea that the firing case was an accident.

Similar bail applications of assistant jail superintendents - Raja Mushtaq and Muhammad Sarwar - are also pending with the high court. All the three prison officers are in jail.

Also pending with the LHC is an application, moved by the families of the four deceased judges, demanding that the trial of the case be conduct by the high court.

The families have taken the plea that the trial is being conducted by Syed Iftikhar Husain Shah, the Gujranwala ATC presiding officer, who supervised the inquiry of the incident and they wanted to call him as a witness which is not possible if he continues to preside over the trial. Incidentally, the ATC judge has been transferred and so is the process of the trial.