Sarim Burney files fresh bail on ground of ‘delay in conclusion of trial’

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has issued a notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a fresh bail application filed by incarcerated social worker Sarim Burney in a child trafficking case.

Burney through his counsel moved a post-arrest bail application before the judicial magistrate (East), citing delay in the conclusion of trial as the fresh ground for relief.The magistrate is expected to take up the bail plea on June 27 when both defence and prosecution sides would forward their arguments.

In the application, the counsel submitted that this was the sixth bail plea filed on behalf of Burney after the Sindh High Court dismissed his post-arrest bail application on February 10.

He argued that the statutory ground of delay as provided under Section 497(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) did not exist at the time when the previous bail applications were decided. Therefore, he added, this was the first bail plea on the ground of delay in the conclusion of trial.The lawyer said his client had been behind bars since his arrest on June 5, 2024 and till today even charge against him had not been framed.

“The prosecution is deliberately delaying the proceedings before the trial court and most recently the IO of the case has moved application for the transfer of the case before the learned trial court,” he said, adding that the matter of jurisdiction was still pending decision despite the passage of one year since Burney’s arrest.

“The applicant cannot be left at the mercy of the prosecution to rot in jail for an indefinite period,” the counsel contended, and pleaded with the court to order his release on bail.