Islamabad High Court suspends order rejecting FIR plea in Pims fire case
The court has called for the complete record and the inquiry report, and issued notices to the federal government and the Prime Minister's Office.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday suspended a Justice of the Peace's order that rejected a plea for the registration of an FIR into the fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), in which 14 newborns died.
Dawn reported that the court directed the authorities to submit the complete record along with the inquiry report, and issued notices to the respondents, including the federal government and the Prime Minister's Office.
The fire broke out on August 26 in a nursery at the Pims Mother and Child Hospital and killed 14 newborns. The deaths raised concerns about fire safety at the hospital, and the high court has now called for the inquiry report into the incident.
The case turns on whether a criminal case should be opened over the deaths. A Justice of the Peace is a judicial officer who hears applications of this kind; this one dismissed the plea, and Tuesday's order suspends that dismissal while the high court hears the matter.
An FIR is the document that starts a police investigation in Pakistan, and the application before the Justice of the Peace was aimed at having one registered. The record of the lower court and the inquiry report are now to be placed before the high court, and the notices require the federal government and the PMO to reply.
Pims is a public hospital in Islamabad run by the federal government.
TechJuice reported that China has gifted Islamabad 21 fire trucks after the Pims tragedy. Its report did not say when the vehicles were handed over or which department would operate them.
Dawn's report did not name the applicant, the Justice of the Peace whose order was suspended, or the judges who issued Tuesday's directions, and it gave no date for the next hearing.
How the reports differ
Dawn alone reported the high court's order, its direction for the record and the inquiry report, and the notices to the federal government and the PMO. TechJuice carried a related development that Dawn's report did not mention, reporting that China has gifted Islamabad 21 fire trucks after the Pims tragedy.
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