Shahrukh Jatoi case: Magistrate refuses to preside over trial
Jatoi is the main convict in 2010 murder case of Shahzeb Khan
Shahrukh Jatoi outside the court premises. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The legal proceedings in the case against Shahrukh Jatoi, the main convict in 2012 murder case of Shahzeb Khan, and his accomplices have come to a halt after a judicial magistrate declined on Wednesday to preside over the trial.
The reference sent by Malir's judicial magistrate IV, Sher Muhammad Kolachi, to the district's top judge read that he could not conduct the trial because he had represented the accused in the past when he was a practising lawyer.
This development has put the case on back-burner once again. Earlier, the case was not taken up for a long time as the preceding judge had gone on a training programme abroad and after that the court had become vacant because of the shuffle in lower judiciary.
The case pertains to Shahrukh's escape from the country to Dubai on December 27, 2012, two days after the commission of the offence. Shahrukh, who is the son of a landlord and business magnate, allegedly travelled on a fake passport and forged documents and was given protocol illegally that helped him dodge the security checkpoints. His brother, Nawab Ali Jatoi, a close associate of his father, Muhammad Khurram, two employees of Pakistan International Airline, identified as Wasi Akhtar and Mahmud Sultan, three travel agents, Abubakr Dochki, Omar Dochki and Sohail Ahmed, have also been charged with facilitating in the culprit's departure from the country.
However, a month later Shahrukh was brought back to the country by the police. In June, 2013, an anti-terrorism court sentenced Shahrukh and his friend, Siraj Talpur, to death. Two of their accomplices, Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, were given life imprisonment for the murder of Shahzeb, who was the son a senior police officer.
According to a court official, the case has now been transferred to another magistrate, Nadir Khan Burdi, who will take it up on March 31.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2016.
The legal proceedings in the case against Shahrukh Jatoi, the main convict in 2012 murder case of Shahzeb Khan, and his accomplices have come to a halt after a judicial magistrate declined on Wednesday to preside over the trial.
The reference sent by Malir's judicial magistrate IV, Sher Muhammad Kolachi, to the district's top judge read that he could not conduct the trial because he had represented the accused in the past when he was a practising lawyer.
This development has put the case on back-burner once again. Earlier, the case was not taken up for a long time as the preceding judge had gone on a training programme abroad and after that the court had become vacant because of the shuffle in lower judiciary.
The case pertains to Shahrukh's escape from the country to Dubai on December 27, 2012, two days after the commission of the offence. Shahrukh, who is the son of a landlord and business magnate, allegedly travelled on a fake passport and forged documents and was given protocol illegally that helped him dodge the security checkpoints. His brother, Nawab Ali Jatoi, a close associate of his father, Muhammad Khurram, two employees of Pakistan International Airline, identified as Wasi Akhtar and Mahmud Sultan, three travel agents, Abubakr Dochki, Omar Dochki and Sohail Ahmed, have also been charged with facilitating in the culprit's departure from the country.
However, a month later Shahrukh was brought back to the country by the police. In June, 2013, an anti-terrorism court sentenced Shahrukh and his friend, Siraj Talpur, to death. Two of their accomplices, Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, were given life imprisonment for the murder of Shahzeb, who was the son a senior police officer.
According to a court official, the case has now been transferred to another magistrate, Nadir Khan Burdi, who will take it up on March 31.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2016.