Murder case: Supreme Court seeks explanation from a judicial magistrate

A Supreme Court bench at Lahore registry here Tuesday sought an explanation from a judicial magistrate in a petition filed by Azam Ikram, son of deceased retired army colonel, seeking registration of a murder case against former Punjab Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood.
The petitioner submitted that his father Muhammad Ikram was knocked down by official vehicle driven by the driver of former chief secretary who was also sitting in the car at that time.
He contended that after hitting his father at Sarwar Road, cantonment area the vehicle of the former CS escaped the scene leaving his injured father on the road. He said his father might have been saved had the chief secretary and his driver taken him to nearby hospital, which they had not done.
Petitioner said the police had not registered an FIR against the former chief secretary but only booked his driver Ghulam Murtaza in the case. The Lahore High Court had earlier dismissed the petition which prayed for naming Javed Mehmood also as accused in the FIR.
The SC bench, however, directed the judicial magistrate to explain as to why the trial of the case had not yet been started despite the elapse of one and a half years of the incident.