Elderly woman gets justice after 39 years of bureaucratic delays, harassment in Rawalpindi

Non-bailable arrest warrants issued for Commissioner and DC of Rawalpindi, Murree for non-compliance with court orders

An elderly woman from Kotli Sattian has received justice from a civil court after 39 years. For nearly four decades, bureaucracy, tehsildars, and patwaris harassed her and her family, extracting money from them. Finally, civil judge Nadeem Asghar Nadeem, recently transferred from Depalpur, used all judicial powers to ensure justice.

The new judge took strict notice of repeated non-compliance with court orders, issuing non-bailable arrest warrants for Commissioner Rawalpindi Aamir Khattak, Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi Hassan Waqar Cheema, Deputy Commissioner Murree Zaheer Shirazi, the tehsildar, the concerned patwari, and Assistant Commissioner Kotli Sattian Dr Hina.

He ordered all of them to be arrested and produced before the court, and their salaries were stopped. Two key officers—Assistant Director Land Record Rawalpindi Cantt Saman Khan and Assistant Director Rawalpindi Saddar Behzad—were arrested and produced before the judge.

In 1986, Zaitoon Bibi of Kotli Sattian was deprived of her property, and in November 2025, she finally regained her legal right. She had approached the civil court seeking cancellation of fraudulent mutations related to her land. After witnesses from both sides were heard, the court issued a decree.

Zaitoon Bibi then filed an execution request, but despite repeated arrest warrants, authorities failed to implement the decision. The case took a turn when Nadeem Asghar Nadeem assumed charge as Admin Civil Judge in Rawalpindi. During the hearing, he ordered the arrest of AC Kotli Sattian Dr Hina, who requested leniency.

The judge allowed her relief and released her, but at the next hearing, the court orders remained unimplemented. He then issued arrest warrants for the commissioner, both deputy commissioners, the assistant commissioner, the tehsildar, and the patwari, and suspended their salaries.

As a result, revenue officials finally executed the decree. The ancestral land of Zaitoon’s predecessor, Sajawal, was transferred to his heirs, including Zaitoon, and the fraudulent transfers were cancelled. Due to the failure to implement two other decrees, Assistant Director Land Record Saman Khan and Assistant Director Behzad were arrested and produced before the judge. After executing the decrees, both were released.

Speaking to reporters, 69-year-old Zaitoon Bibi said she is extremely happy to receive justice after 39 years, during which she and her children repeatedly visited courts but never lost hope. She said more than 100 judges had been changed during this period, and she is grateful to God for finally granting her relief.