ISLAMABAD: Heading a three-member Supreme Court bench on Monday, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali recused (separated) himself from hearing a case of Mukhtar Mai, saying he was a member of the Lahore High Court (LHC) bench, which had acquitted the accused in the Mukhtar Mai case.

The bench comprised Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain. Mukhtar Mai, a resident of Meerwala in Muzaffargarh, became a victim of gang rape as a form of revenge on the orders of Panchayat of a local Mastoi clan. The Anti-Terrorism Court convicted six men and sentenced them to death on August 31, 2002. The convicts appealed to the LHC, which acquitted five of them on March 3, 2005.

The federal government decided to appeal against the acquittal. In the meantime, the Federal Shariat Court decided to overrule the LHC decision and the accused were arrested again. The very next day, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Shariat Court did not have the authority to overrule the decision and decided to hear the case in the SC.

The case is pending in the court since 2005. Earlier on March 16, the case had been de-listed. Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Mukhtar Mai, had told reporters that his case, placed on No 1 at the regular cause list for March 16, had been de-listed and the bench had not intimated him why it was so. Talking to reporters at the SC building on Monday, Aitzaz expressed the hope that the case would soon be fixed for hearing.

Answering a query that alleged criminals were languishing in jail for the last five years without trial, he said it was not an easy case, and there were cases where the alleged criminals were detained in prisons for the last 10 to 15 years. Aitzaz said the case would probably be placed before another bench, headed by Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, as that bench had been hearing the case earlier.
Source: The News
Date:5/11/2010