Custodial killing?: Court orders govt to compensate bereaved widow
Directs motorway police to facilitate installation of CCTV cameras to monitor crime.
The bench directed the finance division to release the compensation money within 20 days and adjourned the hearing till July 3. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday ordered the federal and provincial governments to give final compensation to the widow of a previously missing person.
A division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Roohul Amin issued the orders while hearing a petition filed by Hameeda Bibi, the mother of Farmanullah.
Farmanullah initially went missing from Nauthia, Peshawar but his body was later found stuffed in a gunny sack within the jurisdiction of Prang police station in Charsadda. Soon after, Bibi collected her son’s body from Prang, near the motorway.
On April 17, the court directed the federal government, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) and the home secretary to pay Farmanullah’s widow Rs1 million as compensation. The orders, however, were not complied with.
On Thursday, Additional Advocate General Naveed Akhtar said he had spoken to both federal and provincial secretaries for law, but was unaware of recent developments on the matter.
“Let us attach the salaries of the Safron secretary, additional chief secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary. The amount will be released within days then,” said Justice Khan, adding this was the only option left for the court.
Deputy Attorney General Iqbal Mohmand, however, requested the bench to give authorities a chance. “They will take up the issue seriously and pay the widow Rs1 million without further delays,” he maintained.
The bench warned the officials their monthly salaries would be attached and government property would be auctioned to recover the compensation amount if the court’s orders were not complied with.
The PHC also directed the M-1 motorway police to send a PC-1 (project cycle form) to the finance division immediately, in order to facilitate the installation of CCTV cameras from Jihangira to Peshawar toll plaza. The bench maintained heinous crimes were increasingly being reported from the said portion of the motorway.
The bench later directed the finance division to release the compensation money within 20 days and adjourned the hearing till July 3.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2013.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday ordered the federal and provincial governments to give final compensation to the widow of a previously missing person.
A division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Roohul Amin issued the orders while hearing a petition filed by Hameeda Bibi, the mother of Farmanullah.
Farmanullah initially went missing from Nauthia, Peshawar but his body was later found stuffed in a gunny sack within the jurisdiction of Prang police station in Charsadda. Soon after, Bibi collected her son’s body from Prang, near the motorway.
On April 17, the court directed the federal government, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) and the home secretary to pay Farmanullah’s widow Rs1 million as compensation. The orders, however, were not complied with.
On Thursday, Additional Advocate General Naveed Akhtar said he had spoken to both federal and provincial secretaries for law, but was unaware of recent developments on the matter.
“Let us attach the salaries of the Safron secretary, additional chief secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary. The amount will be released within days then,” said Justice Khan, adding this was the only option left for the court.
Deputy Attorney General Iqbal Mohmand, however, requested the bench to give authorities a chance. “They will take up the issue seriously and pay the widow Rs1 million without further delays,” he maintained.
The bench warned the officials their monthly salaries would be attached and government property would be auctioned to recover the compensation amount if the court’s orders were not complied with.
The PHC also directed the M-1 motorway police to send a PC-1 (project cycle form) to the finance division immediately, in order to facilitate the installation of CCTV cameras from Jihangira to Peshawar toll plaza. The bench maintained heinous crimes were increasingly being reported from the said portion of the motorway.
The bench later directed the finance division to release the compensation money within 20 days and adjourned the hearing till July 3.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2013.