Sapna case referred to CCPO for action

Court dismisses Dost Khosa’s plea for case transfer.

LAHORE:

District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by former Chief Minister Dost Muhammad Khosa seeking the transfer of a petition for the registration of a murder case against him from the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Nazeer Ahmed.

However, the additional district and sessions judge later disposed of the petition, which accuses the former chief minister of abducting and murdering his ex-wife Sapna Khan, and referred the matter to the city’s police chief for “appropriate action to redress the petitioner’s grievance”.

Khosa’s attorney, Advocate Zubair Khalid Chaudhry, told Judge Mustaqeem Ahmed that his client had not seen Sapna since their divorce. He said her family had accused Khosa of murder in order to ruin his reputation and to blackmail him.

He said that the Lahore High Court was already hearing a related petition and the subordinate court proceedings should be stayed in the meanwhile.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, representing Sapna’s family, said that the application was merely the latest delaying tactic employed by the respondent.

A day earlier, they had claimed that the petitioner Missal Khan was not Sapna’s father.

He said Khosa had claimed to have divorced Sapna, but the divorce had not been registered at the union council office concerned. He said that the defence had not given any grounds for transferring the case.

After hearing both sides, Judge Mustaqeem Ahmed dismissed the petition. Additional District and Sessions Judge Nazeer Ahmed later disposed of the petition filed by Missal Khan and referred the matter to the capital city police officer (CCPO).

Media ‘drama’

Before the proceedings in the additional district and sessions court, the family created a major commotion when Sapna’s brother Muhammad Ameen fainted. He lost consciousness for a few minutes due to low blood pressure, family members said.

Speaking to the media, Sapna’s sister Hina Khan vowed that the family would continue to pursue the case against Dost Khosa.

She said that if justice were denied, she and other family members would set fire to themselves in front of Governor’s House.

When proceedings began, Judge Nazeer Ahmed lashed out at a television reporter as he entered the courtroom. He said that the media had encouraged Sapna Khan’s family to create a hue and cry over Ameen’s fainting. “You and other reporters created this drama outside the courtroom,” he said, addressing the television man.

The judge threatened to kick out the press, saying that journalists should not cover proceedings unless they were invited to by the court. “Who invited you people here? You people mislead the nation with your false reporting and irrelevant news,” he said, adding that he could send them to jail for contempt of court.

Upon the prompting of some lawyers, the judge moved on to the day’s proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2011.