Supreme Court restricts stay of Allahabad HC order against Gautam Buddha Nagar DM to strictures, costs
The top court’s interim order has come on an appeal against the High Court’s order quashing the detention of a student under National Security Act and directing payment of ₹5 lakh to the student, to be recovered from the salaries of the DM and other officials involved
The Supreme Court has halted the trial of Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar's alleged custodial killing and body desecration, just days before proceedings were set to begin in the Mirpurkhas district and sessions court. The court's decision came in response to a petition by Dr Ibrahim Kumbhar, the complainant in the FIRs related to his father's alleged murder and desecration.
Dr Ibrahim is seeking the restoration of the Anti-Terrorism Court's jurisdiction, challenging the April 7 order by the Sindh High Court directing the transfer of the case to the sessions court. The sessions court was originally scheduled to begin the trial on September 29. Dr Sajjad Ahmed Chandio, representing Dr Kumbhar, argued before the Supreme Court that the case should remain before the ATC and objected to the manner of its transfer.
The court has issued notices to the Sindh Deputy Prosecutor General, Advocate General Sindh, and Attorney General for Pakistan for October 13, with the matter to be decided by a three-member bench. Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar was allegedly killed in a staged police encounter on September 19, 2024, after surrendering to Mirpurkhas police in connection with a blasphemy FIR.
His body was later set on fire by a mob while being transported to a graveyard in Umerkot for burial. The FIRs were registered under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, and the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention and Punishment Act 2022. The three officers accused in the case, Javed Sonharo Jiskani, Muhammad Asad Chaudhry, and Asif Raza Baloch, sought the transfer of their case to the district court, arguing that terrorism provisions in the FIR should not apply.
The ATC rejected their plea on October 23, 2025, and subsequently dismissed their criminal revision applications on December 12, 2025. However, the SHC ordered the ATC to transfer the case to the district and sessions court on April 7, 2026. Dr Kumbhar's family has now challenged this transfer before the Supreme Court, seeking to allow the ATC to proceed with the trial.
Written by urgent.news from The Express Tribune - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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