Parents of children who died from food poisoning pardon restaurant owners

Pardon granted in the name of God, says accused’s lawyer

KARACHI: The parents of the two minor brothers who died after eating substandard food from Arizona Grill, an eatery in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), have pardoned the restaurant's owner. However, the high-end restaurant's legal troubles are not over yet as the Sindh Food Authority (SFA) is adamant to pursue their case against the restaurant's management.

Information of the pardon was provided to the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday while it was hearing the bail plea of the two arrested accused in the case. The court directed the parties to approach the trial court in this regard. Justice Nazar Akbar heard the case.

The lawyer for the accused, Khwaja Naveed, said that no deal had been struck between the parties and the parents had only granted forgiveness in the name of God.

The parents of the deceased children were also present in the court. The father, Muhammad Ahsan, said they had forgiven those responsible for the incident and did not wish to take any further action. Justice Nazar Akbar directed the parties to submit copies of their understanding to the trial court.

According to the medical report presented in court, the children died after consuming poisonous food. The restaurant had served expired meat with high quantities of E. Coli bacteria which resulted in the deaths of the two minors.

The restaurant owner, Nadeem Mumtaz Raja, is already on pre-arrest bail. The two arrested accused are, Adnan Ali, the manager of the said eatery, and Amir Sheikh, general manager of Stream Trading International - one of the subsidiaries of the conglomerate that owns Arizona Grill.



The case

Two minor brothers, one-and-a-half year old Ahmed and four-years-old Muhammad, had died of food poisoning and their mother, Ayesha, had been hospitalised after dining out at the restaurant on November 10.

The next day, the restaurant was sealed by the Sindh Food Authority (SFA) while around 60 samples were sent for forensic analysis to determine the cause of the children's deaths.

Later, the SFA had discovered a warehouse, where the restaurant had allegedly stored expired meat and other inventory. The meat was found to have been imported in 2014 and according to the inscription on the packets, it was supposed to have been used by February 24, 2015.

Complaint registered

Police had registered a case against the restaurant's owner and other accused under Sections 322 [murder] 272 [Adulteration of food or drink intended for sale], 34 [common intention] of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victims' father.



Unsatisfactory response

Addressing a press conference on December 19, District South DIG Javed Alam Odho had said that the food samples tested by the laboratories contained an excessive amount of dangerous bacteria. The victims, he said, suffered from acute dehydration after consuming the food and died from renal failure.

DIG Odho had told the press conference in December that Arizona Grill's management had failed to give satisfactory responses to their queries. These included questions like where they got their inventory, for how long was it stored and what were the preservation methods to ensure their quality.

He added that meat, which had expired in 2015, was found in the restaurant's store. The restaurant owner had later claimed that the meat was meant for another venture, which had never opened. DIG Odho had expressed the opinion that the meat, even if this was true, should have been disposed of as its presence in the storage facility with other goods was harmful for the consumers.

SFA case

Meanwhile, an SFA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the authority will not take back its case against the eatery's management, which is currently under trial before a judicial magistrate.

The SFA has registered a case under Section 45 of the Food Act, which carries a maximum penalty of Rs1 million and three years' imprisonment or both.

"The court will decide the case on merit," said the SFA official, adding that the authority had submitted all the evidence, including the samples collected from the restaurant and the warehouse.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2019.