Sarabjeet Singh allowed meeting with attorney

LHC allows the meeting one more time on humanitarian grounds.

LAHORE:

Indian death row prisoner Sarabjeet Singh was allowed to meet his counsel Advocate Awais Sheikh at Kot Lakhpat Jail on the directives of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed the order to the inspector general (IG) of prisons, Punjab while disposing of a petition moved by Advocate Sheikh against the Punjab secretary and the IG Prisons for not allowing him to meet his client. On the court’s orders the IG Prisons submitted his reply, which stated that all petitions and mercy appeals of Singh had been dismissed and no case pertaining to him was pending before any court of law in Pakistan, therefore, there was no need to allow the Indian convict to meet with any lawyer.

Chief Justice Bandial, however, directed the IG Prisons to give Singh’s advocate permission to meet his client one more time on humanitarian grounds, directing the counsel to bring a fresh power of attorney from the family of Singh if the meeting were to take place.

The advocate’s petition also stated that in the presence of the standing order of the LHC, the rejection of his application for meeting his client is illegal, unlawful and amounts to a contempt of court.

Sheikh added that in every meeting, he exchanged views on different aspects of the case vis-à-vis getting signatures on fresh mercy petitions which were intermittently submitted to the president of Pakistan. He said since the prisoner is an Indian citizen and his family members cannot meet him due to visa restrictions it is his duty to convey messages to and from Singh’s family, inquiring for his health and wellbeing, as well as providing necessary items allowed to every convict by jail authorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2012.