Court refuses to exempt reporter from appearance

Appearance was for a petition for the recovery of a missing Jinnah Hospital doctor.

LAHORE: Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain, on Wednesday, rejected the request of Abdul Manan, a reporter of The Express Tribune, for exemption from personal appearance in a petition for the recovery of a missing Jinnah Hospital doctor.

Manan has been appearing before the court for the last eight dates on the direction of the court.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, the reporter’s counsel, submitted on Wednesday that being a reporter it was difficult for Manan to appear before the court on every date. He requested the court to exempt Manan from personal appearance and said that he would appear when the court required him.

The judge did not agree and said, “It is a journalist’s job to go where his search for news will take him.

There should be no problem in reaching the court for ten minutes.”

The judge said Manan must attend court till the petition is disposed of.

Umar Virk, the organised crimes superintendent (SP), and Model Town SP (Investigation) Abdul Rab appeared before the court and stated that Manan had refused to disclose his source. SP Virk said they had contacted police all over the country but the doctor was not reported in custody.

He said they were trying to trace the doctor’s motorcycle. The court gave the police three weeks to trace the doctor.

SP Abdul Rab submitted that it might be better for the court to refer the matter to the missing persons’ commission constituted by the Supreme Court.

The court said that this seemed a lengthy and complicated procedure.

Petitioner’s counsel requested the court to ask an SP rather than an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) to question Manan.

The judge said that it was not the court’s job to supervise the investigation. He said that it was up to the police how it chose to get the information it needed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2010