ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday expressed his annoyance over the failure of the Islamabad administration and police in the recovery of children detained at a brick kiln for bonded labour.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of a petition moved by Manzoora Bibi, mother of the detained children, and directed the Chief Commissioner Islamabad and Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Police to produce the detained children before the court till Saturday.
The IHC bench also directed that the Chief Commissioner ICT and IGP would appear in person before the court on the next hearing if they failed to produce the children. During the hearing, the Station House officer (SHO) of the concerned police station stated before the court that the police had raided the concerned brick factory but they did not find the children there. At this, the IHC chief justice remarked that the police were admitting the disappearance of children but it did not even bother to register a first information report (FIR) in this matter. He said that you are saying that the children are missing and you still have not registered an FIR. Justice Athar further said that if they were the children of the interior secretary or any influential person, then would you say the same thing. He continued that if the children cannot be rescued, then the IG and chief commissioner would be summoned to the court. The bench observed that the response of state institutions was not the same if the children of any elite family went missing. The bench further said that the poor woman was standing before the court and the people like her even do not have access to the courts. The IHC bench directed the deputy commissioner ICT and police to ensure recovery of the children till Saturday and produce them before the court. In this matter, the petitioner namely Manzoora Bibi invoked the constitutional jurisdiction of the court asserting that the owner of Gondal Bricks Company situated at Haji Camp Road, Islamabad has illegally detained her children while the ages of the children are less than eight years. Later, police arrested the brick kiln owner from the court premises while the deputy commissioner said on this occasion that the owner would not be released till the children are safely rescued.
Meanwhile, another single bench of the IHC comprising Justice Babar Sattar issued notices to the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in a case related to the cancellation of a doctor’s license and sought comments pertaining to the establishment of medical tribunal and its current status. During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel informed the court that his client’s license was cancelled for a period of two years on charges of committing negligence during an operation. He said that medical tribunal was not functional where the appeal could be lodged against the decision of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). The bench remarked that a woman had lost her life and it did not want loss of any other life. Justice Babar observed that the court could not issue a stay order without hearing the stance of PMC.
Then, the IHC bench deferred hearing in this matter till January 14 for further proceedings.