Organ smugglers: Suspects sent on judicial remand for 14 days
Magistrate stops police from charging them under illegal transplant law
Magistrate stops police from charging them under illegal transplant law. PHOTO: EXPRESS
RAWALPINDI:
A judicial magistrate on Monday sent four suspected organ smugglers, including a woman, to Adiala jail on 14 days judicial remand.
Remand was granted after a lawyer for the suspects argued that the police could not register a case against them under the Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Act (THOT), 2010.
Acting on a tip-off, the police on Saturday raided the basement of a plaza in Rawat and rescued 24 prospective ‘donors’. Officials had arrested four people — plaza owner Zafar Iqbal, prime suspect Faqeer Hussain, and facilitators Shezad Qayyum alias Shani and Bilquees Bibi.
Magistrate Waqar Mansoor Baryar on Monday declined a request from the Rawat police seeking physical remand of the suspects, but granted judicial remand.
The court also directed the police to record statements of 24 people who had been recovered from the basement under 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The decision allows the suspects to file bail pleas.
THOT debate
Advocate Qausain Faisal Mufti, representing the accused, argued before the magistrate that under THOT 2010, police could not charge someone for illegally transplanting kidneys.
He maintained that only an 11-member body, constituted by the federal government and chaired by the health minister, could file a case under the act.
He added that a person, whose organ has been stolen, could also lodge a complaint.
A prosecution lawyer informed the court that the suspects had also been charged with abduction, wrongful confinement, and extortion, all of which were cognisable by the police.
Promises of riches
Talking to The Express Tribune, Abdul Khalid, one of the people rescued by the police, said the accused had promised him a “lucrative” job at a bungalow in Rawalpindi.
A resident of Faisalabad, Khalid said when he reached the plaza, he was subjected to some medical tests. He further claimed that the accused told him that he had to give away one of his kidneys and that he would be paid Rs290,000.
Shamsher, another detained man, said he came from Okara and was also promised a better job in Rawalpindi, but was detained. He said he had unsuccessfully tried to escape from the basement.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2016.
A judicial magistrate on Monday sent four suspected organ smugglers, including a woman, to Adiala jail on 14 days judicial remand.
Remand was granted after a lawyer for the suspects argued that the police could not register a case against them under the Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Act (THOT), 2010.
Acting on a tip-off, the police on Saturday raided the basement of a plaza in Rawat and rescued 24 prospective ‘donors’. Officials had arrested four people — plaza owner Zafar Iqbal, prime suspect Faqeer Hussain, and facilitators Shezad Qayyum alias Shani and Bilquees Bibi.
Magistrate Waqar Mansoor Baryar on Monday declined a request from the Rawat police seeking physical remand of the suspects, but granted judicial remand.
The court also directed the police to record statements of 24 people who had been recovered from the basement under 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The decision allows the suspects to file bail pleas.
THOT debate
Advocate Qausain Faisal Mufti, representing the accused, argued before the magistrate that under THOT 2010, police could not charge someone for illegally transplanting kidneys.
He maintained that only an 11-member body, constituted by the federal government and chaired by the health minister, could file a case under the act.
He added that a person, whose organ has been stolen, could also lodge a complaint.
A prosecution lawyer informed the court that the suspects had also been charged with abduction, wrongful confinement, and extortion, all of which were cognisable by the police.
Promises of riches
Talking to The Express Tribune, Abdul Khalid, one of the people rescued by the police, said the accused had promised him a “lucrative” job at a bungalow in Rawalpindi.
A resident of Faisalabad, Khalid said when he reached the plaza, he was subjected to some medical tests. He further claimed that the accused told him that he had to give away one of his kidneys and that he would be paid Rs290,000.
Shamsher, another detained man, said he came from Okara and was also promised a better job in Rawalpindi, but was detained. He said he had unsuccessfully tried to escape from the basement.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2016.