SHC suspends trial court order that accepted police report exonerating PPP MNA

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has suspended the trial court order with regard to acceptance of the second police investigation report in the killing case of journalist Nasarullah Gadani, in which a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA and two others were not placed for trial.

The interim order came on application filed by Ms Pathani, the mother of the slain journalist, in which she challenged acceptance of the second police report by the trial court. The police had in the second report placed the name of PPP MNA Khalid Ahmed Lund and two others in the column II and did not send them for trial due to insufficient evidence.

The petitioner had filed an application in the SHC submitting that her son was killed by the influential PPP MNA and others when he was showing extraordinary police protocols provided to the MNA on May 24 last year.

The petitioner’s counsel Salahuddin said a district and sessions judge being incharge of the anti-terrorism court had dismissed the application of the police and opined that the case fell within the ambit of the anti-terrorism law and directed the investigation officer to submit a final report as per the mandate of the Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure without fail.

The counsel submitted that the trial court while going beyond its mandate accepted the second police report wherein the defendant PPP MNA Lund and two others were placed in the column II and not sent for trial.

The counsel submitted that the last referred order had no value in the eyes of the law and the superior court had held in the judgment that once cognisance was taken on a police report into a matter triable by the court of sessions, even on the interim report under the section 344 of the CrPC, the magistrate was no more competent to pass an order for disposal of case on subsequent reports.

A division bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panwhar issued notices to the prosecutor general and others and called their comments on February 17 and in the meantime suspended the impugned order to the extent of the PPP MNA and two others respondents.

The police report had earlier stated that the MNA and his sons Noor Mohammad and Shahbaz, who have been blamed by the Gadani family for planning the deadly attack, were not involved in the incident.