Property dispute: Judge accused of taking bribe to influence court verdict

Samanabad SHO issued third show cause notice for not submitting report.

LAHORE:

A court has issued a show cause notice for the third time to the Samanabad station house officer (SHO) for not submitting a report on a petition filed by a woman seeking a case against a civil judge for taking bribe to get her favour in a case.

Petitioner Kishwar Sultana told the additional district and sessions judge that his husband Ziaul Haq and his sister Musarrat Iqbal had a property dispute in 2010 and the matter was taken to a court.

She said Civil Judge Shazia Cheema, one of their family friends, told them she could request the relevant civil judge to decide the matter in their favour if they paid her Rs1 million.

Sultana said they sold a house and handed over the money to Cheema. She said the judge did nothing for them.

She said her husband could not withstand the stress and passed away. She said Haq’s mother never recovered from the shock of his son’s death and she too passed away.

Sultana said Cheema had now refused to help her or return the money. She said she had filed a complaint with Lahore High Court which ordered an inquiry against the judge.

She said Cheema handed her a cheque in February 2014 with the request to withdraw the complaint against her. She said the cheque for Rs1 million was dishonoured.

The court had ordered the SHO to record the petitioner’s statement but he did not. The judge sought a report from the SHO after the petitioner filed a (lack of) compliance report.

Police then submitted a report saying the petitioner had not produced the cheque dishonor slip. They said Cheema who was posted to Wazirabad had assured them that she would submit her statement to them within a few days. Police had said they would file a report in light of the judge’s statement.

The petitioner said police had not submitted the report yet.

The judge had issued the first show cause notice to the SHO on July 9, the second on July 19 and the third a couple of days ago directing him to submit a report before court.

“Cheema took a huge amount from us and did nothing. My husband and mother-in-law died due to her behaviour,” Sultana told The Express Tribune.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Cheema denied the allegations.

“My only fault has been obtaining a divorce from the petitioner’s brother… I am being attacked for that.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2014.