Pak Foundation Chairman, Qureshi, appeals SC to constitute full bench for hearing Bhagat Singh’s case
Pak Foundation Chairman, Qureshi, appeals SC to constitute full bench for hearing Bhagat Singh’s case
HARISH MONGA
Ferozepur, June 26, 2023: It’s 10 years on, there is no action so far on the petition filed by the Chairman of Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation (BSMF) Pakistan and lawyer Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi in the court of law, to prove innocence of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his associates, terming it as judicial killing. He has appealed to the Supreme Court for early hearing in the case by constituting the full bench.
Revolutionary freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were hanged to death by the British government for their activities on March 23, 1931, at the Lahore Jail, when the names were not specifically mentioned in the FIR.
Qureshi said that the Lahore High Court on the petition filed in the name of execution of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on the ‘judicial killing’ Instead of giving justice, this matter has been lying pending without any orders. He further informed that an FIR was registered by the police on the charge of murdering British police officer John Saunders in Lahore at Anarkali police station on 17 December 1928.
He said that despite the fact that the names of the said revolutionaries were not recorded in the FIR, they were just killed in the name of alleged hanging, as per the court orders, for which the British government should apologize publicly.
Petitioner Qureshi said that the petition was filed in the court to reopen the case of Bhagat Singh and others in 2013 on behalf of the Foundation, by Barrister Dr. Syed Farooq Hassan. The was restarted with Justice Khalid Mehmood Khanand Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan for reopening of the cases which was accepted. The Lahore High Court Judge Sujat Ali Khan, considering the sensitivity of the case, referred the case to the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court to form a full bench to hear it. While 10 years have passed but so far this has not been resolved and no Bench has been set up to hear the case, despite filing applications for early hearing and during this period the many advocates have died but full bench has not been constituted for re-hearing the case. He appealed to the Lahore High Court for early hearing in this case.