Baldia factory fire convicts appeal ATC verdict

Rehman and Zubair were handed 264 death sentences for setting the garment factory ablaze

KARACHI:

The convicts of the Baldia factory fire case filed appeals in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday, challenging the sentences awarded to them by an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

The petitioners, Zubair alias Charya, Rehman alias Bhola, Ali Muhammad, Fazal Ahmed, Shahrukh Latif and Arshad Mehmood, have maintained in the pleas that the trial court ignored major facts while announcing the verdict.

The appeals moved the court to nullify the sentences awarded to them by the ATC.

An ATC had handed down 264 death sentences, along with life imprisonment, to Zubair and Rehman in the Baldia factory fire case on September 22, after finding them guilty of arson. The court ruled that the men intentionally set the Ali Enterprises garment factory ablaze in 2012 after the owners refused to pay extortion.

The court had further awarded life imprisonment to factory gatekeepers Latif, Muhammad, Mehmood and Ahmed for facilitating the tragedy, ordering them to pay Rs2,777,353 - equivalent to 30,630 grams of silver - as diyat to the families of each of the 264 victims.

Lack of fire regulations

Meanwhile, the SHC sought reply from the Karachi commissioner and others in a petition pertaining to the absence of fire regulations in the city.

The court asked the assistant commissioner (AC) whether there were any checks and balances in this regard, inquiring whether the administration checked factories for emergency exits. The bench further asked whether there was a committee to check the implementation of labour laws in factories.

The AC replied that a committee, comprising officials from the fire department, Sindh Building Control Authority and other departments, had been formed in 2019.

At this, the court questioned when the last committee meeting was held. The AC said it had been held in 2019.

The petitioner informed the court that the Rescue 1299 helpline had been set up, but was not functional. "I called the helpline myself and received no answer," he added.

The AC claimed the helpline was initially working well, but later faced technical issues.

The court sought replies from the city commissioner and others, summoning the relevant parties before adjourning the hearing until November 3.

Delayed hearings

The court separately gave the Sindh government more time to submit its reply on a plea pertaining to delays in under-trial cases.

A government lawyer appeared in court, seeking more time to comply with the bench's orders. The request was granted.

According to the petitioner, prisoners in multiple under-trial cases from before 2010 had already served half their sentences even without the trial's conclusion. "The province's prisons house more inmates than they are allowed to keep as per their sanctioned capacity," he stated.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Human Rights had submitted a report on the condition of the country's prisons to the Supreme Court. According to this report, Sindh's 24 prisons have a sanctioned capacity of 13,538 but actually held 16,315 inmates at the time.

*WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2020.