HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, on Tuesday ordered the exhumation of a body on a petition filed by a son of the deceased after the lower judiciary’s refusal to hear the application.

The SHC bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui expressed annoyance at the lower courts for declining to hear the application merely on the ground of jurisdiction.

The order to exhume the body of Abdul Aziz Shar was passed on the petition filed by his son, Abdul Ghani, a resident of Sukkur. 

According to the petition, the Uderolal police had found the body of Abdul Aziz Shar and after completing formalities they handed it over to Edhi volunteers in the Tando Adam area of Sanghar district for burial. The brother and son of the deceased approached the police to ascertain the identity of the body. They lodged an FIR with the Jhangro police in Sukkur district where the case is still pending.

The judicial magistrate concerned refused to hear his application because the graveyard, where the body had been buried, didn’t fall within his jurisdiction, the petitioner said.

He then filed an application before an additional sessions judge in Sukkur but received similar response. Subsequently, he moved an application before a judicial magistrate in Tando Adam seeking DNA test of the deceased. But the JM refused to hear the plea observing that the offence had not been committed within his jurisdiction.

The bench observed it was strange that Abdul Ghani had approached the trial court and judicial magistrate in whose area the body had been recovered and the magistrate under whose jurisdiction it was buried, yet all the relevant courts declined prayer of the petitioner on ground of territorial jurisdiction. 

The court said it was also strange that the complainant approached the police concerned for verification of the deceased but the police failed to move the request.

It said the police were under obligation to verify the body or move an application on request of the complainant for exhumation of body, but no such efforts had been made by police. 

The bench observed all the courts were competent enough to pass an order. The civil judge, Matiari, was competent as the body had been found in his jurisdiction while the judicial magistrate of Tando Adam was competent as the body was buried in his area while the trial court was competent because a murder case was pending there.

The court noted that complainant/petitioner was running from pillar to post just because the police failed to perform. It directed the judicial magistrate, Tando Adam, to ensure exhumation of the body under his supervision and Sanghar district health officer shall constitute medical board for exhumation of body and for DNA test to determine cause of death and identification of the body.

The court said this exercise would be completed within a month and observed that it was expected that the lower courts would be careful in future. 

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017