Orients labs factory collapse: Bail plea to be heard on April 16

LAHORE: The after-arrest bail petition of a co-accused in the Orient Labs building collapse case has been put off till April 16, as Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Hussain Sial was on leave on Monday. At the last hearing, the judge had summoned the police record of the case. Zubair Iqbal, a director of Orient Labs, is accused of negligence in allowing the factory on Multan Road to collapse, which resulted in the deaths of 26 people, mostly workers. The petitioner has asked for bail on the grounds that the building collapse was an unfortunate occurrence and there was no evidence connecting him with the incident. He said that the FIR also included the charge of murder, which was not appropriate in this case. According to the FIR registered at Sabzazar police station on an inspector’s complaint, the owners of Orient Labs – Zubair Iqbal and his two brothers – had been urged by employees to shift the pharmaceutical manufacturing company because it was unsafe.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2012.