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Thursday March 28, 2024

Ruckus at Quaid’s mausoleum: Summary trial of case to be held against Safdar, others

By Tariq Butt
October 20, 2020

ISLAMABAD: A summary trial will be held for offences under which Captain (retd) Safdar and 200 others have been charged for raising slogans at the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum, entailing a maximum of three years imprisonment.

The Chapter XX of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) dealing with “trial of cases by magistrate”, will apply. The FIR registered against the accused by the Karachi Police invokes three sections of the Quaid-i-Azam Mazar Protection and Maintenance Ordinance 1971 and two provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The Section 6 of the ordinance says no person shall organise, convene or take part in any meeting ordemonstration or procession or engage in political activity of any kind within the Quaid’s Mazar or within a distance of ten feet from the outer boundary. Section 8 reads “no person shall do any act or behave in any manner which is or tends to be derogatory to the sanctity and dignity of the Quaid’s Mazar.”

Section 10 says whoever acts against any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Any such offence shall be tried in a summary way in accordance with the provisions contained in sections 262 to 265 of the Cr.P.C.

Section 506-B of the PPC has also been added to the FIR, which deals with giving threats to the complainant. However, before an FIR is registered, the application should be forwarded to superiors in the police, who would check its authenticity. If the incident is confirmed, then the concerned police station is directed to register a case under 506-B. It is compulsory that the complainant produce two witnesses with whom he has no blood relation. The case can only be lodged if the threat is made at gunpoint. After registration it is not compulsory to arrest the person nominated in the FIR, because the case is first investigated and if evidence is found that the threat is fake then an FIR is lodged against the complainant.

Section 427 of the PPC was also inserted in the FIR, which says “whoever commits mischief and thus causes loss or damage to the amount of Rs 50 rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.” Another addition is of Section 34, which says “when a criminal act is done by several persons, in furtherance of the common intention of all, each such person is liable for that act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone.”