KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday remarked if Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh was serious then why inquiry has not been carried out against Gutka sellers and manufacturers and it ordered full crackdown on them.
A two-member bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Sallahuddin Pahnwar, heard a petition filed by Naseem Haider seeking ban on selling and manufacturing of gutka.
At the outset of the hearing, a doctor of the cancer ward of JPMC Hospital informed the bench that just one year at least 10 thousand patients of mouth cancer have visited his cancer.
The secretary of law department informed the court that a bill has been forwarded to the committee for legislation and they hope that bill would be approved within a week.
The bench asked will only three years punishment be given to those earning profit of billions of rupees form this illegal business. A severe punishment less than life imprisonment should be prescribed in bill for gutka manufacturers, the bench said.
The bench remarked that the court would summon CM Sindh if it was needed. Police and those sitting in assembly are also responsible for the situation because gutka could not be sold without their involvement, it remarked.
However, additional IG Police (legal) informed the court thatа11 cases have already been registered under Sectionа337A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The bench said that if assets of SSPs are probed their possible involvement in these things would be unearthed. “We will asked National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that assets of police officials must be probed,” the bench remarked.
Justice Pahnwar asked Police to give in writing which other factors are also involved in this crime.
The court, later, reserved its decision, by ordering the police to launch full crackdown on gutka sellers and manufacturers.
