Former first lady Bushra Bibi. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking suspension of the sentence of Bushra Bibi, the wife of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan, in the Al-Qadir Trust case, on medical grounds.
As the IHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar resumes hearing the pleas of Bushra Bibi and Imran seeking suspension of their sentences on April 22, their lawyer Salman Safdar filed an application to explain his medical condition.
The court was invited to hear and rule, as a matter of priority and on the merits, of the request for a stay just submitted by the applicant in the interests of justice and fair play.
The application has been pending before the IHC for over a year. The application further asks the IHC to summon the prison superintendent, deputy prison superintendent and head of the ophthalmology department of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, and direct them to present themselves with complete medical records, including operation notes, diagnosis, treatment history and all relevant documents relating to the surgery performed on Bushra Bibi.
“The applicant be immediately transferred to Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, for appropriate post-operative treatment under continuous medical supervision, and that the concerned prison authorities be directed to ensure regular, meaningful and unhindered access to the applicant’s lawyer and his family members, in accordance with the law and previous judicial instructions,” the application is further prayed to say.
“Bushra Bibi was subjected to prolonged incarceration, repeated delays in processing her request for suspension of sentence, continued denial of access to a lawyer and a serious deterioration in her health, culminating in surgery carried out in undisclosed circumstances,” he added.
“All of these factors, when considered cumulatively, establish extreme hardship, a violation of fundamental rights and a clear abuse of process, thereby entitling the applicant to immediate judicial relief.”
The petition stated that Bushra Bibi, as a woman, convicted of “allegations of abetment” and sentenced to seven years, is entitled to bail on legal and humanitarian grounds, particularly in cases where her appeal has remained for a considerable period of more than a year and her health has deteriorated significantly during her incarceration. She said that continuing to detain the applicant in such circumstances would serve “no purpose” and would amount to perpetuating irreparable harm.
“During the proceedings, the applicant’s lawyer and her family were abruptly and unofficially informed by the prison authorities that the applicant had undergone an eye operation due to certain complications. It is of great concern and alarm that neither the applicant’s lawyer nor any member of the applicant’s family were informed or consulted prior to said medical procedure, and that no prior disclosure was made regarding a deterioration in the applicant’s state of health which might require further treatment. such surgical intervention. “The whole process seems to have been carried out in its entirety. opacity, without respect for fundamental standards of transparency and without offering the applicant the benefit of consulting her lawyer or her family,” the request states.
