Aamir Liaquat’s children told to challenge exhumation order before sessions court

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday disposed of a petition filed by children of the late Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain against exhumation of his body for an autopsy with a direction to the petitioners to assail the order before the relevant sessions court.

In the meantime, the high court extended the interim stay against the judicial magistrate’s order with regard to the exhumation of the former MNA’s body for 10 days or till a revision application was filed before the competent forum.

Hussain’s children had filed the petition against a judicial magistrate’s order with regard to the exhumation of their father’s body and constitution of a medical board for an autopsy.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that the impugned order, otherwise amenable to a revision application before the sessions court, had been challenged directly in the constitutional jurisdiction.

The high court observed that all the parties had consented to dispose of the petition and extended the interim stay order against the judicial magistrate decision with regard to the exhumation till a revision application was filed by the petitioner before the relevant sessions court within 10 days.

The petitioners, Ahmed Amir and Dua-e-Amir, children of the late politician and television personality, had submitted in the plea that their father died on June 9 and they were allowed to bury the body after obtaining permission from a judicial magistrate as legal heirs did not want to conduct an autopsy of the deceased to ascertain his cause of death.

They submitted that the judicial magistrate had conducted external examination of Hussain’s body and allowed burial after completing all codal formalities. They submitted that another judicial magistrate on another application allowed exhumation of the body and ordered the constitution of a medical board for such purpose without having jurisdiction to do so.

Contrary to the request of the petitioners, the estranged wife of Hussain filed an application for becoming an intervenor in the petition of his children against the exhumation. She submitted that she wanted to become a necessary party in the petition as she wanted to know the cause of death of her spouse.

It is pertinent to mention that Hussain had contracted his third marriage with Dania Shah in February this year however his third wife filed suit against her spouse for dissolution of marriage within the third month of the marriage.