Non-filing of appeals in Baldia factory fire: SHC takes exception to acquittal of co-accused

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday took exception to non-filing of appeals against acquittal of co-accused, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, in the Baldia factory fire case, observing that the court might itself take notice if it considers the acquittal appeal ought to have been filed and so-called influential accused are being deliberately and intentionally shielded by the state.

Hearing appeals against the conviction of Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists and Baldia factory employees, an SHC division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, inquired from the Rangers prosecutor as to why appeals against acquittal of co-accused had not been filed by them.

The court observed it seems that big fish were protected in the case by not filing appeals against their acquittal by the trial court. Special Prosecutor Rangers Rana Khalid sought time to seek instructions from the concerned authorities as to whether or not appeal shall be filed against those who were acquitted by the trial court.

The court directed special prosecutor of Rangers to seek instructions as to whether an appeal shall be filed against acquittal of co-accused in the Baldia factory fire case or not and submit compliance on next date of hearing.

The counsel of appellants submitted that their clients were minor accused in the entire scheme of the offences who were convicted by the trial court while the main accused who were influential persons have been acquitted and yet the state has not filed appeals against their acquittal. They also sought time to pay costs for preparation of the paper book of the case.

The court observed that applications have been filed by the families of deceased who were killed in the Baldia factory fire case to become interveners in the matter. The court observed that none of the applicants were complainants in the case, as such, their applications were not maintainable and the same are dismissed.

Legal heirs of the Baldia fire factory victims had filed an application for becoming interveners in the appeals of convicts seeking retrial of the case by implicating factory owners and negligent government officials as accused.

Activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Abdul Rehman, alias Bhola, Mohammad Zubair and other factory employees have filed appeals in the SHC against their conviction in the Baldia factory arson attack case.

Rehman and Zubair were sentenced to death while four of the factory’s gatekeepers — Shahrukh, Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood and Ali Mohammad — were sentenced on September 22 last year to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court that found them guilty of charges of murder, extortion, arson and terrorism.

MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, who was accused of being involved in the incident, was, however, acquitted by the court for want of evidence, along with other co-accused Umar Hasan Qadri, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum. MQM’s Tanzeemi committee head Hammad Siddiqui and Ali Hasan Qadri were declared as proclaimed offenders in the case.

According to the prosecution, the factory was set on fire by MQM leaders and activists over non-payment of Rs250 million in extortion. The main accused, Rehman, had admitted in a confessional statement that the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Baldia Town was set on fire on the order of former MQM Karachi Tanzeemi Committee in-charge Hammad Siddiqui for the factory owners’ refusal to pay Rs250 million in extortion. Around 260 factory workers were burnt alive while many others were injured on September 11, 2012, when the factory was set on fire.

Appellants Zubair ‘Charya’ and Abdul Rahman ‘Bhola’ have laid the blame on the factory owners for the fire in their appeals. They have alleged that the factory doors were closed when the fire broke out on the “orders of the owners”. “There was no emergency exit for the workers [when the fire broke out],” the accused have said in the appeal. They added that the people perished in the fire due to the “negligence of the factory owners and related departments”. Both the MQM workers have maintained that in the initial report, the factory owners were held responsible for the fire, adding that the “real culprits” were acquitted in the joint investigation report.

“The court did not scrutinise the evidence,” claimed Rahman and Zubair. They also alleged that no CCTV footage was included as evidence in the trial court and appealed that the verdict by the ATC be declared illegal.