By By Shamim Bano
The philanthropist in the Khohri Garden stampede case, will be made to pay Rs1.1 million to the heirs of each deceased as compensatory money, according to the charge-sheet presented in the court.
Investigation Officer, Inspector Iqbal Niazi submitted the charge-sheet in the court of Judicial Magistrate, South, stating that the Khohri Garden incident, that left 19 women and children dead and many more injured, took place owing to the negligence of philanthropist, Chaudhry Mohammad Iftikhar.
After the incident, the government constituted an inquiry tribunal headed by the District and Sessions Judge, South, Faheem Ahmed Siddiqui. The tribunal presented its findings to the Chief Secretary, Sindh after examining several people including the SHO, Nazim Saddar Town and medico-legal officers.
The tribunal held the philanthropist responsible for negligence and ordered him to pay the Diyat amount to the legal heirs of the deceased. It also held both the local and provincial governments responsible, as it was their prime duty to take care of the citizens.
In this connection, a high-level meeting was called by SSP Investigation, Farhat Junejo, which was attended by senior police officials and legal experts. After thoroughly examining the tribunal’s report, they recommended to the authorities concerned to submit the charge-sheet against the philanthropist to pay the Diyat amount to the heirs of the deceased.
Chaudhry Mohammad Iftikhar was charged under Section 323 (Diyat amount) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The Diyat amount fixed for each deceased totals to Rs 1.1 million or equivalent to 30,630 grams of silver. The Ministry of Law calculates and fixes the Diyat amount in the month of July each year.
After studying the tribunal’s report, the provincial chief secretary referred it to the Inspector General Police, Sindh, Baber Khattak, who referred it to the DIG for further action. Later, SSP Investigation was appointed to hold a meeting of senior officials and suggestions were submitted to the law department for further progress in the matter.
During the meeting, some senior legal experts and police officials showed reservations and submitted that it was not a case of Section 319 (Qatle Khata) of PPC, as the person in question was distributing edible items to the poor people in the month of Ramazan in good faith.
Chaudhry Mohammed Iftikhar had been distributing food items among the poor people in Ramazan for the last 25 years, besides helping them through other means. However, during the distribution of ration on September 14, 2009, a stampede occurred at the congested Khohri Garden area in which 19 women and children died and many more were injured.
FIR No. 1057/09 was registered under sections 319 (Qatle Khata) and 337-H of PPC against Chaudhry Mohammad Iftikhar by the Kharadar police station.