CJ orders to send Sharjeel, Sharukh back to jail from hospital

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Saqib Nisar, on Saturday ordered to send Pakistan Peoples Party leader Sharjeel Inaam Memon, Shahzeb murder case convict Shahrukh Jatoi and all other prisoners back to Jail who had been living in hospital under the pretext of illness.

Chief Justice Expressed his extreme displeasure over the sending the condemned inmate, Shahrukh Jatoi to jail. “How have you sent a convict who should be in the cell of convicted murderers to hospital,” Chief justice angrily asked Inspector General Prisons, Nusrat Mangan.

Chief justice summoned the report, which reads that the convicted criminal had piles whereas he was shown to have heart disease so that he may be sent to hospital. Chief justice while addressing to Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency services in Jinnah Hospital, said it was the performance of doctors. The Chief Justice said that a board comprising doctors of Punjab will be formed to examine Shahrukh Jatoi.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, who took notice of Jatoi’s transfer to Jinnah Hospital from jail premises earlier this week, Shahrukh Jatoi complained of a heart ailment but it turned out to be piles, the Chief Justice remarked, as he demanded to know the whereabouts of the doctor who prepared the accused’s medical report.

The Chief Justice was further irked when he was told that Jatoi is being kept in Category C jail.

Why is a death sentence suspect being kept in Category C jail, Justice Nisar asked, and summoned a report from the jail administration on how many prisoners have been transferred to hospitals.

Jatoi had previously also served most of his incarceration at the JPMC citing medical issues.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had ordered the re-arrest of Jatoi, Siraj Talpur and other convicts in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, following which Jatoi and the others were taken into custody from the court premises.

The apex court had been moved by members of the civil society against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision ordering a re-trial and removal of terrorism charges from the conviction against the accused.

The apex court, instead of accepting the civil society appeal, had taken a sou motu action and nullified the SHC order.

On December 23, 2017, Jatoi, the son of an influential feudal, and other defendants in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, were released from custody on bail after Shahzeb’s father submitted an affidavit in support of the defendant’s bail application.

Shahzeb was gunned down by Jatoi in a posh locality of Karachi on December 25, 2012.

An ATC in 2013 had awarded death sentences to Jatoi and Siraj Talpur for the murder of Shahzeb, while life sentences were awarded to Sajjad Ali Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari.

The Supreme Court, hearing a case pertaining to the state of public hospitals in Sindh at its Karachi Registry, declared the performance of Jinnah Medical and Dental College “unsatisfactory” and issued notices to the representatives of the college.

Later, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar directed the concerned personnel to prepare a performa within three days. The court also summoned files of Jinnah Hospital.

Chief Justice Nisar also paid a visit to Jinnah Hospital later in the day, where he reviewed the hospital infrastructure and instructed Director Dr Seemi Jamali to submit a list detailing hospital facilities to the court. He also inquired after the health of the patients under treatment at the hospital.