Food poisoning case: Restaurant owner granted bail

SHC rejects plea against demolition of restaurant at Hill Park

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court granted on Monday bail to the owner of a local restaurant against a surety of Rs0.2 million in the case of death of two minor siblings due to food poisoning. The siblings had died after eating the alleged unhealthy food at his restaurant.

The court directed the accused, Nadeem Mumtaz, to appear before the trial court. Mumtaz had escaped from the city court after his bail was rejected by the trial court. Two accused, Adnan Ali and Aamir Akhtar, are in prison.

The incident occured on November 10. The case was registered at Sahil police station by the victims' father under Sections 272 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Plea rejected

The SHC on Monday rejected the plea filed against the demolition of a restaurant at Hill Park. A two-member bench comprising Justice Junaid Ghaffar and Justice Yousuf Ali Syed heard the plea.

The lawyer for the petitioner argued that the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) had allotted the land in Hill Park on lease for the restaurant. Land in other parks has also been allotted for commercial use, he said.

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) counsel, Sameer Ghazanfar argued that commercial activities in parks has been stopped in accordance with the Supreme Court's (SC) orders.

Justice Ghaffar remarked that he has grown up in Karachi and knows how the lease was granted. The lease was granted illegally and that is why the apex court ordered the investigation, he said.

The plea against the demolition was rejected by the court.

Fake extortion case

The SHC issued notices to Sindh inspector-general of police (IG), East deputy inspector-general of police (DIG), SITE Superhighway police station and others for the registration of extortion cases against a 70-year-old vegetable trader, Shaista Khan and his son, Abdur Raheem. A two-member bench headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro heard the plea.

The lawyer for the petitioner, Munsif Jan, argued that the vice chairperson of Sabzi Mandi Market Committee, in collusion with East DIG Amir Farooqi, is filing false cases against the traders. Farooqi is a business partner of Sabzi Mandi trader, Asif Ahmed, he said. The lawyer maintained that his client was being implicated in a false case. Shaista Khan and his son, Abdur Raheem, have both been arrested in this case and now other traders and their families are being harassed, he said asking for the harassment to be stopped.

Court issued notices to Sindh IG, East DIG, SITE Superhighway police station and others seeking their replies.

Missing citizen

The SHC on Monday issued notices to Sindh IG, interior department and others regarding the plea for the recovery of citizen, Tariq Jameel Ghauri. A two-member bench comprising Justice Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi heard the plea for the recovery of Ghauri.

The petitioner's lawyer argued that officials in plain clothes took Ghauri under custody on November 11 from Mehmoodabad. The lawyer maintained that Ghauri has been taken under custody by the same officials who had taken away journalist, Nasrullah Chaudhry. He argued that Ghauri's life was under threat and that he should be recovered immediately.  The court sought replies from Sindh IG, department of interior and others and issued notices for January 16. The court also directed police officials to submit their report after recovering the citizen.

Replies sought

The SHC on Monday sought a detailed reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding the call-up notice issued by NAB to KMC officials.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro heard the plea. KMC's lawyer, Sameer Ghazanfar, maintained that NAB is issuing notices to KMC officials on unspecified inquiries. He argued that NAB is seeking old KMC records of several years without specifying any reason. He said that KMC was not being told why the records were sought and KMC officials have also received personal notices from NAB. The lawyer argued that NAB should be stopped from issuing these notices.

The court sought a detailed reply from NAB by January 17.

Safoora carnage case

The SHC on Monday adjourned the hearing of plea against the death sentence awarded by military court to the convicts of Safoora carnage case due to the absence of the defence lawyer.

The two-member bench comprising Justice Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi adjourned the hearing of the plea due to the absence of the defence counsel, Hashmat Habib. A junior lawyer told the court that Habib was not in the city.

According to Sindh prosecutor-general, a military court awarded the death sentence to Saad Aziz, Tahir Minhas, Azhar Ishrat, Hafiz Nasir and Asadur Rehman. The petitioners have challenged the military court's verdict in SHC. The appeals by the families of the criminals also include a request to allow a meeting with the convicts and the provision of records.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2019.