Bid to snatch land gift from wife: SC hears husband’s bail plea in forgery case

LAHORE: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday asked a couple to resolve their property dispute amicably after it was transpired that the husband had forged signatures of his wife to grab 297 Kanal land he had gifted to her earlier.

A three member bench headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik was hearing the pre-arrest bail petition of Aslam Hayat Qureshi who allegedly forged the signatures of his wife, Lala Rukh Hayat — granddaughter of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, former prime minister of the British Punjab before the partition. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aminud Din were other members of the bench.

Ahsan Bhoon, the counsel for Lala Rukh, informed the court that her client was married to Aslam Hayat 45 years ago and her husband had gifted her two different pieces of land measuring 180 Kanal and 117 Kanal respectively in Sargodha in 1975.

The counsel added that when the relationship between the couple soured, Aslam Hayat he prepared forged gift documents in 2000 and got the property transferred back in his name in the revenue record.

Ahsan Bhoon argued that his client approached the Halqa patwari for the ownership documents when she came to know that property ownership had been reverted to her husband’s name.

She approached the anticorruption establishment Sargodha for FIR against her husband and revenue officials involved in forging bogus documents. The anti-corruption establishment sent the signatures of Lala Rukh Hayat to the Punjab forensic laboratory for comparison and its report confirmed that the documents carried fake signatures of the lady.

She said her husband was a very influential person and she had been able to lodge FIR against him in 2019 after a long legal battle.

Justice Malik observed that after the report of handwriting expert, the petitioner had very limited option and prima facie extraordinary relief of pre-arrest bail could not be granted in such circumstances. He asked both the sides to have negotiations with open hearts and resolve the issue amicably by tomorrow, or court would decide the case on merit.

The bench will resume hearing today at 12 pm. Anti-corruption court Sargodha and Lahore High Court had already dismissed Aslam Hayat’s pre-arrest bail petitions.