A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court seeking registration of a criminal case against the Punjab information minister over the deaths of a woman and her daughter who fell into an open manhole near Bhati Gate, according to sources. The plea also calls for a thorough investigation into the incident and action against officials allegedly responsible for negligence.<\/p>\n
The petition was filed by Azhar Siddique Advocate, head of the Judicial Activism Panel. It names the Punjab government, the Lahore Development Authority and other relevant departments and officials as respondents. The petitioner argued that leaving an open manhole in a densely populated area amounted to gross negligence, which directly led to the deaths of the mother and daughter.<\/p>\n
The petitioner maintained that instead of taking action against those actually responsible, the government resorted to cosmetic measures. He pointed out that despite the theft of more than 10,000 manhole covers every year in Lahore, effective preventive steps had not been taken.<\/p>\n
The petition further stated that registration of a case under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code by the police was insufficient, arguing that the deaths were not a mere accident but a clear case of criminal negligence. It was also alleged that after the incident, police officials and government representatives harassed the bereaved family.<\/p>\n
The petitioner requested the court to constitute a judicial commission to determine the facts of the case and assess compensation for the victims\u2019 family. He further sought directions for recovery of Rs250 million in compensation from negligent officers to be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased.<\/p>\n
The petition also urged the court to order registration of cases against the Punjab information minister, the Lahore deputy commissioner and other officials for allegedly spreading misleading information regarding the incident, sources said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court seeking registration of a criminal case against the Punjab information minister over the deaths of a woman and her daughter who fell into an open manhole near Bhati Gate, according to sources. The plea also calls for a thorough investigation into the incident and action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":68873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,16],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":{"0":"post-71568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest","8":"category-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n