Woman 'deprived of justice' asks judge to send her 'back to India'

Shehnaz Bibi has spent over three decades in courts to reclaim her five-marla house from land mafia

LAHORE:

A Bahawalnagar woman, whose case against the land mafia over her five-marla house has been pending for over three decades, asked the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice on Tuesday to send her to India if she couldn’t get justice despite a passage of 35 years.

Syeda Shehnaz Bibi told The Express Tribune that she asked the CJ to send her back to India because her family migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition to live a better life as promised by its founders.

“If I cannot get my own house vacated from the land mafia despite spending decades in courts then there is no point staying in this country if I cannot get justice here,” she added.

According to Shehnaz, the land mafia had occupied 13 marlas vacated by a Hindu family that had moved to India and she took the issue to the chief settlement commissioner who had summoned documents regarding property from the respondents.

As per documents, the land was illegally occupied and the commissioner cancelled the land deed registered in 1960 as the respondents had not paid the government to acquire the property.

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Subsequently, Shehnaz had been allotted a five-marla piece of land by the commissioner after the payment of dues. The transfer of five marlas in her name angered the accused party who took over her house in retaliation.

During the hearing, Shehnaz urged the CJ to move her case from Bahawalnagar to Lahore as she had been living in Sheikhupura on rent. “I don’t have money to eat meals twice a day, nor do I have the resources to afford a lawyer,” she told the chief justice. “I am fighting this case on my own,” she lamented.

LHC CJ Ameer Bhatti said the court will summon the other party to decide on the case. In response to her comments regarding India, Justice Bhatti said he could not comment on her remarks as he was only concerned with her relevant case. However, he assured her of justice.

The respondents have been issued a notice in the case.