Petition over laundry dispute withdrawn

LAHORE:

A petition seeking a criminal case against a couple for allegedly making death threats had been withdrawn after the complainant and the respondent, who both live in the same house, reached a compromise.

The petitioner, Imtiaz Ali, had submitted that Sakhawat Ali and Shazia Bibi, who lived on the floor above him and his family at a house in New Anarkali police jurisdiction, had threatened him after a dispute over laundry. Ali said that as the house was very crowded, his family would cook in the courtyard. But the couple upstairs would hang their laundry out to dry on a washing line above the courtyard, causing water to drip down onto the stove, making cooking difficult, he said. When the petitioner complained to the respondents, he said, they abused and threatened him. He approached the New Anarkali SHO to lodge a case, but he refused to register a case. He asked the court to direct the SHO to register case against the couple.

On Tuesday, the petitioner said that the couple had apologised and the two sides had reached a compromise, so he wanted to withdraw the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2013.