SC delists mentally-ill death row prisoners’ case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday delisted the review petitions of mentally-ill death row prisoners namely Imdad Ali and Mst Kanizan Bibi due to non-availability of the bench constituted for hearing the said matter.

On March 13, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed ordered to fix the instant petitions on March 30 before a five-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik. Other members of the bench included Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

On Wednesday, the Assistant Registrar (Fixture) of the Supreme Court notified that the instant matter has been delisted due to non-availability of the said bench.

In 2018, a five-judge larger bench ordered a medical board consisting of civilian and military doctors to conduct a fresh medical examination of schizophrenic death row prisoners and submit a report in two months.

The medical board was asked to inform the court about the history and extent of their mental illness and the prospects of recovery from their ailments. Imdad Ali and Kanizan Bibi, mentally unstable condemned prisoners, are confined in the Vehari District Jail and the Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Lahore, respectively. They were later shifted to the Rawalpindi Central Jail for examination by the medical board in compliance with the apex court’s Oct 23, 2018 order.