Court orders case against two people over land grab
Bureau Report
2017-07-26
PESHAWAR: A local court has ordered the police to register a case against two people, including brother-in-law of a widow, on the charge of depriving her of the late husband`s property.
Additional district and sessions judge Shal(irullah Khan accepted the application of the widow, Roheela Naz, under Section 22-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the court to act as the justice of peace and order the registration of an FIR over the police`s reluctance.
The woman charged her brother-in-law, Humayun Khan, and his friend, Kashif Khan, who is regional sales manager of a packaged milk company.
The FIR will be registered under the KP Enforcement of Women Ownership Act, 2012, under which depriving a woman of her property is a penal offence punishable up to five years imprisonment with a maximum fine of Rs50,000.
Saifullah Muhlb Kakakhel, lawyer for the applicant, said his client was the widow of Asif Khan and had five children, including four daughters and a son, from him, who all had moved the court to claim the due right to the property of the deceased.
He said after the death of Asif Khan, his brother, Humayun Khan, had grabbed all his property instead of giving it to the deceased`s legal heirs.
The lawyer said the property, included a shop, a car, a pickup van and Rs10 million cash.
He claimed that Humayun had fraudulently withdrawn Rs10 million without getting guardianship from the court or any authority through Kashif Khan from the company in which he served.
The lawyer added that the said money was deposited by the deceased for setting up an agency of the packaged milk.
He said under the KP Enforcement of Women Ownership Act, 2012, depriving a woman of the ownership of her land, including movable and immovable property, was a crime and punishable under the law.
Under the law, the ownership means the right of ownership to the property both movable and immovable, which is devolved to and vested in women by way of inheritance, gift, purchase, mehr (dower) or acquired by her by the way of any other legal and Shariah means.
