Workplace safety: Two Orient Lab owners released on bail
Third owner has been out on bail since July 19.
LAHORE:
The chief executive officer and a director of Orient Labs were granted bail on Monday.
Zaheer Iqbal, the chief executive, and Zafar Iqbal and Zubair Iqbal, the directors, were arrested in February, shortly after a dilapidated building, housing the pharmaceutical company, collapsed killing at least 24 labourers. The three owners are brothers. They were granted interim bails but were remanded in early March after the LHC dismissed their bail applications.
On Monday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Arshad Ali granted bail to the accused against bail bonds of Rs200,000 each. The charges against them were framed in June. The men are accused of, among other things, murder and for continuing to operate the factory, despite government orders not to.
Zubair Iqbal, one of the directors, was granted bail on July 19.
The case of the other two brothers was transferred from one court to another. AD&SJ Anjum Raza had been hearing the case but after four hearings, he referred it to AD&SJ Nisar Ahmed who sent it back to Judge Raza’s court. He sent them to the acting session judge Khawaja Zafar Iqbal who gave the case to Munir Joya. AD&SJ Joya sent his regrets, saying he could not hear the case for personal reasons.
The bail applications were then referred to Javedul Hassan Chishti, who requested the session judge, Nazir Ahmed Ganjana, that another judge be assigned to the case. However, judge Abdusattar Langah also excused himself after six hearings, saying that he could not hear the matter because of a conflict of interest. The accused were his neighbours, he said. The matter was finally assigned to AD&SJ Arshad Ali, who granted bail to the two brothers.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2012.
The chief executive officer and a director of Orient Labs were granted bail on Monday.
Zaheer Iqbal, the chief executive, and Zafar Iqbal and Zubair Iqbal, the directors, were arrested in February, shortly after a dilapidated building, housing the pharmaceutical company, collapsed killing at least 24 labourers. The three owners are brothers. They were granted interim bails but were remanded in early March after the LHC dismissed their bail applications.
On Monday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Arshad Ali granted bail to the accused against bail bonds of Rs200,000 each. The charges against them were framed in June. The men are accused of, among other things, murder and for continuing to operate the factory, despite government orders not to.
Zubair Iqbal, one of the directors, was granted bail on July 19.
The case of the other two brothers was transferred from one court to another. AD&SJ Anjum Raza had been hearing the case but after four hearings, he referred it to AD&SJ Nisar Ahmed who sent it back to Judge Raza’s court. He sent them to the acting session judge Khawaja Zafar Iqbal who gave the case to Munir Joya. AD&SJ Joya sent his regrets, saying he could not hear the case for personal reasons.
The bail applications were then referred to Javedul Hassan Chishti, who requested the session judge, Nazir Ahmed Ganjana, that another judge be assigned to the case. However, judge Abdusattar Langah also excused himself after six hearings, saying that he could not hear the matter because of a conflict of interest. The accused were his neighbours, he said. The matter was finally assigned to AD&SJ Arshad Ali, who granted bail to the two brothers.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2012.