Bail given to suspects accused of renting out room at Mazar-e-Quaid
Residence engineer registers FIR against guards for renting room to couples.
According to the complainant, the guards were allegedly involved in enting the room to couples. PHOTO: ONLINE/FILE
KARACHI:
Three security guards were granted bail on Tuesday by a judicial magistrate in a case pertaining to their alleged involvement in renting out a room to couples at the Jinnah Mausoleum.
The details came to light when the team of ARY News programme, Sar-e-Aam, visited the mausoleum and found out that its administration was involved in renting out a room — the one in which Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah is buried — to couples.
A judicial magistrate in district East granted bail to the guards, Abdul Rasheed, Kamran and Muhammad Rashid, after they were produced before the court. The police had arrested them after the residence engineer at Mazar-e-Quaid, Arif, registered a case, No.27/14, under section 8/10 of the Taqadus-e-Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Act, 1976, against the guards at the Brigade police station. According to the complainant, the guards were allegedly involved in renting the room to couples.
In his arguments, the defence counsel, Javaid Ahmed Chhatari, said that the offence was not a cognisable offence and the residence engineer having powers of a magistrate under the Act could have sent the suspects to jail if found involved in any such activities.
Chhatari said that the premises of the mausoleum were the federal government's property and that it was highly unlikely that a suspicious activity could take place under the tight security of the armed forces. The lawyer added that no person - even one belonging to the armed forces - is allowed to enter the mausoleum, alleging that the main reason for registering a complaint against the guards was because they had stopped a high-ranking policeman from entering the mausoleum with guards carrying weapons. He accused the residence engineer of concealing facts and registering the complaint on someone else's behest.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2014.
Three security guards were granted bail on Tuesday by a judicial magistrate in a case pertaining to their alleged involvement in renting out a room to couples at the Jinnah Mausoleum.
The details came to light when the team of ARY News programme, Sar-e-Aam, visited the mausoleum and found out that its administration was involved in renting out a room — the one in which Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah is buried — to couples.
A judicial magistrate in district East granted bail to the guards, Abdul Rasheed, Kamran and Muhammad Rashid, after they were produced before the court. The police had arrested them after the residence engineer at Mazar-e-Quaid, Arif, registered a case, No.27/14, under section 8/10 of the Taqadus-e-Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Act, 1976, against the guards at the Brigade police station. According to the complainant, the guards were allegedly involved in renting the room to couples.
In his arguments, the defence counsel, Javaid Ahmed Chhatari, said that the offence was not a cognisable offence and the residence engineer having powers of a magistrate under the Act could have sent the suspects to jail if found involved in any such activities.
Chhatari said that the premises of the mausoleum were the federal government's property and that it was highly unlikely that a suspicious activity could take place under the tight security of the armed forces. The lawyer added that no person - even one belonging to the armed forces - is allowed to enter the mausoleum, alleging that the main reason for registering a complaint against the guards was because they had stopped a high-ranking policeman from entering the mausoleum with guards carrying weapons. He accused the residence engineer of concealing facts and registering the complaint on someone else's behest.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2014.