SC takes suo motu notice of Gujrat stoning

CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry takes suo motu notice on Saturday of a stoning-to-death incident in Gujrat.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice on Saturday of a stoning-to-death incident in Gujrat on Thursday.

The incident comes just a month after two brothers were brutally lynched to death by a mob in Buttar village near Sialkot.

Gujrat’s local lawyers stoned to death Tariq Mehmood, a marble factory owner, when he was on his way home from work. Mehmood’s car collided with a lawyer’s motorbike on Bhimbar Road, which resulted in a clash between Mehmood and two lawyers Nadeem Tahir and Nadeem Sindhu.

The dispute was resolved after Tariq apologised but the lawyers chased him to another part of the city and their accomplices stopped Tariq, broke his car’s windows and dragged him out of the car and stoned him to death on the spot.

Gujrat police rushed to the scene but did not stop the two lawyers and their aides from pelting Mehmood with bricks. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to the post-mortem report, he had succumbed to severe injuries.

The family members of the deceased placed his body on Bhimbar Road and staged a protest, blocking the GT Road for hours.

According to media reports, locals managed to capture the lawyers and their accomplices but SHO of the Civil Lines police station Sarwar Gondal, sub-inspector Mubarik and four constables helped them escape.

A FIR was registered against the lawyers and their accomplices but no arrests have been made so far. Gujrat DPO Afzal Nadeem has initiated an investigation against the police officials involved in the incident.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has directed PPO Punjab to appear before the court on September 24 and present the entire record.

This is the second such instance of mob violence in central Punjab.

Last month, two brothers Muneeb and Mughees Butt were killed with sticks by a mob in Buttar village near Sialkot in the presence of a DPO Sialkot, an SHO and other police officials. The chief justice took suo motu notice of the incident as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2010.