PESHAWAR, Sept 19: The mobile court here on Thursday visited Tarnab area and disposed of 31 cases of civil and criminal nature.
The specially designed bus displaying the words ‘Mobile Court’ was parked on the premises of Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab and a large number of people, some of whom wanted to have just a glimpse of the bus, wee present there.
The mobile court, which was inaugurated on July 27, was also accompanied by the director general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy, Hayat Ali Shah, and Peshawar district and sessions judge Shehbar Khan. Last month, the mobile court had visited Hayatabad Township in Peshawar.
A civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate, Fazal Wadud, designated as mobile court judge, heard the cases in the courtroom setup in the bus.
Two trained mediators, advocates Wajid Ali and Sikander Khan, played active role in convincing some of the parties to enter into compromise following fighting their respective cases for many years.
Persons from international media as well as representatives of United Nations Development Programme, which has been extending financial and technical support for this project, also turned up to observe the functioning of the court.
A court official said that in one of the cases two real brothers, Sahar Gul and Badam Gul, had entangled in a civil dispute over some joint properties including a piece of land and a residence, which had been lingering on for the last around a decade before a civil court. During course of this long trial a blood feud also started between them as a close relative of one of the two brothers was killed.
When the mediators started their job both the sides were arguing and counting the excesses committed by the other party. Both the litigants were blaming each other for the feud. Finally, after hectic negotiations they agreed to have a patch-up. Earlier, several local jirgas had failed in hammering out a compromise between them.
Similarly, another civil case pending before a civil court since 2009 was also disposed of after the two parties decided to compromise the matter on certain terms and conditions.
The court decided a total of 31 cases including eight civil and 23 criminal cases. The nearby police stations at Chamkani, Pandu and Urmer produced several offenders nabbed by them during 24 hours in petty nature cases. These cases pertained to carrying contraband in small quantity and arms and the suspects were charged under the Control of Narcotics Substance Act (CNSA) and Arms Ordinance. The court set free the accused persons after imposing fine on them.
Similarly, three Afghans were arrested under section 14 of the Foreigners Act for not possessing proper documents. The court sent them to prison with the direction to deport them. Certain suspects arrested on charges of having being a threat to public order were also released on submission of personal bonds.
On the occasion, the country director of UNDP, Mark Andre Franche, said that they had been observing as to how the first bus had been operating and if the experience was positive they could expand the project. So far, he added, all indicators of the project were looking good.
He said that they were sensitive to the security situation seeing how those courts could work in areas like Malakand.
Briefing journalists, Mr Hayat Ali Shah said that the project was aimed at providing justice to people at their doorsteps. He said that a mediation centre would be set up at the Judicial Academy to impart training of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) to judges and lawyers. He added that the project was run in Peshawar on experimental basis and would be later on extended to other districts also.
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