Block ID cards of all absconding accused: SC

The Karachi registry of the country’s top court directed the federal and provincial governments on Tuesday to block the identity cards of all the absconding accused.

Hearing a state appeal against the acquittal of Shaukat Masih in a fake medicines case, the Supreme Court’s three-member bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam said the police had failed to arrest the accused despite the issuance of non-bailable warrants (NBWs).

Sindh Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan said the trial court had convicted Masih after finding him guilty of manufacturing fake medicines, but the high court set aside the conviction, adding that the state appeal was pending in court for the past seven years and the respondent was still at large.

The investigating officer assured the bench that the mobile number of the respondent had been traced and that he would be arrested soon.

The court took exception to the non-arrest of the absconding accused despite the issuance of NBWs and asked why the police had not blocked the ID cards and frozen the bank accounts of all the absconding accused.

The bench said that several absconding accused had made speeches about respecting the courts but they failed to appear before them.

The court directed the prosecutor general and the federal law officer to ensure that the ID cards of all absconding accused were blocked and their bank accounts frozen. The SC also directed the police to arrest Masih and produce him before the court on the next date of hearing.

On May 26 the police chief had ordered launching a crackdown to arrest all the fugitives. The directive was issued a day after the Sindh High Court was informed that 98,852 absconders and proclaimed offenders were still at large in different districts of the province.

The Addl IGP (legal) had informed the court through a report that 57,528 absconders and 41,324 POs were at large in the province. The figures did not cover three districts of Nawabshah, as a detailed report on them was to be submitted later.

Expressing concern over the alarming number of absconders and POs at large, the bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar had said an absconder could be easy prey for terrorists to keep the law and order situation upset on a permanent basis, particularly in a city like Karachi.

The bench said if the abnormal number of absconders at large was not reduced, the wish of lasting peace would remain a distant dream, adding that a judicial notice was also taken last year when the court found out that 59,000 absconders could not be arrested in Larkana Division alone.

The SHC said if the absconders were not arrested and no justification for the failure was provided, then the court would be compelled to issue a contempt notice to the police chief.

Environmental pollution

The SC directed the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board to submit a progress report regarding the working of the Mehmoodabad treatment plant.

The three-member bench headed by Justice Alam was hearing identical petitions filed against environmental pollution in the city’s harbour and coastal areas that were being poisoned due to the dumping of industrial waste.

The law officer told the court that 80 per cent of the civil work of the treatment plants of Mauripur and Site Area had been completed, while 50 acres of the Mehmoodabad treatment plant had been encroached.

He said the Mauripur and Site Area treatment plants would be made operational within six months, while the Mehmoodabad treatment plant could be made operational if the encroached land was reclaimed.

The top court directed the law officer and the water board to submit a report on the rehabilitation of the treatment plant and the shifting of the allotted people to another location.