The order was passed by LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial who disposed of a petition moved by Advocate Sheikh against Punjab home secretary and IG Prisons for not letting him meet his client.
On the court’s direction, the IG Prisons submitted his reply and stated that all petitions as well as the mercy appeal of Singh had been dismissed and no case was pending before any court of law in Pakistan. Therefore, there was no need to allow the Indian convict to meet any lawyer, he added.
The chief justice, however, directed the IG Prisons to give the petitioner one-time permission to meet his client on humanitarian grounds. He also directed the counsel to bring fresh power of attorney from the family of Singh if he wanted to meet him again.
In his petition, Advocate Sheikh had submitted that he is the legal counsel of Singh, who has been imprisoned for the last 22 years, and has been meeting him in jail for the last three years as per the court orders. He added that on September 1, he submitted an application to meet his client which was rejected on the grounds that “rules do not allow meeting with the counsel”.
He had submitted that in the presence of the standing LHC order, the rejection of his application was illegal, unlawful and amounted to contempt of court.
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