Sarim Burney’s wife gets pre-arrest bail

A sessions court has granted interim pre-arrest bail to social worker Sarim Burney's wife in a child trafficking case. Burney, his wife Aliya Naheed Malik, and others have been charge-sheeted for "illegal sale/purchase of children, misdeclaration and concealment of facts before the family court, fraud and forgery, disappearance of evidence/ record and trafficking the minors".

Ms Malik filed an application before the additional sessions judge (East) seeking pre-arrest bail in the case. "Without touching merits and demerits of the case,” the judge granted interim pre-arrest bail to the woman against surety of Rs100,000 with a direction to join the investigation. The court adjourned the hearing until November 21 for confirmation or otherwise of the bail.

The applicant through her lawyer argued that she being the wife of the Sarim Burney Trust International chairman was not involved nor did she have any knowledge of its operations or alleged illegal activities. She said that she was unjustly implicated in the FIR without any supporting evidence and cogent grounds.

The applicant said she was summoned on August 6 by the Federal Investigation Agency and she had fully cooperated with the investigation process of the agency, adding that her name was not mentioned in the initial FIR; however, she had been included in the final charge sheet, suggesting an arbitrary addition of her name without any proper inquiry.

"Her association with the alleged offense is baseless, and she has been wrongfully dragged into this matter," she said. "The applicant is only related to one of the accused by virtue of marriage and has no personal role, involvement, or authority within the Trust. Mere association with an accused party does not suffice to justify her implication in the charges." Last week, a judicial magistrate accepted the final charge sheet filed against Sarim Burney and issued non-bailable warrants against the suspects, including the wife of the prime suspect.