PHC seeks comments from judge over case transfer plea

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday sought comments from an Accountability Court judge in an application filed by a police officer who was arrested over graft charges and is seeking transfer of his case from the court.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajab Ali was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly making illegal assets worth millions of rupees. He was DSP (City) in Mardan district at the time of his arrest.
Later, he filed an application in the high court and sought transfer of his case from the accountability court presided over by Zarqaish Sani. Mohammad Ibrahim and Ataullah, lawyers for Rajab Ali, submitted before the bench that their client had serious reservations about his trial in the Accountability Court No-2 as the NAB had allegedly provided accommodation and other facilities to the judge. They submitted that the judge was residing in the house provided by NAB. The client, they believed, did not expect justice from the court.
Second, the petitioner’s lawyers submitted that the judge was also not providing them an opportunity for cross-examination of the NAB’s witnesses in the case. The NAB’s prosecutor, Umar Farooq Khan, informed the bench that the trial of the accused had started and statement of three witnesses had been recorded.
A single bench of the PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel after hearing arguments sought comments from the judge of Accountability Court No 2. He fixed April 13 for the next hearing. The police officer is on judicial remand and imprisoned in the Central Prison Peshawar.