News
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Cases against 5 female MPAs for holding fake degrees* LBA VP says tainted MPAs can be arrested, imprisoned for seven years
By Hussain Kashif and Imran Chaudhry
LAHORE: Police on Friday registered cases of fraud and deception against five female members of the Punjab Assembly for submitting fake copies of their bachelor’s degrees in the Election Commission. The MPAs had submitted the copies to get reserve seats in the assembly.
The five cases with the same charges were registered by the Islampura (Krishan Nagar) police under the Pakistan Penal Code sections 199, 200, 471 and the Representation of People’s Act sections 78, 82, 94. The cases were registered on the complaint of Punjab Deputy Election Commissioner Ishtiaq Ahmad Rana.
Four of the five MPAs are from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. They are Farah Deeba, Afshan Farooq, Samina Aziz and Naseem Nasir. The other MPA is Safina Saima of the Pakistan People’s Party.
The accused MPAs had submitted fake degrees in the Election Commission to make them eligible for the assembly seats. Police, after registering the case, has started legal proceedings against the accused parliamentarians.
The Election Commission, while holding an inquiry against 106 parliamentarians of the National Assembly and all provincial assemblies, had declared 30 degrees of parliamentarians fake. The commission had verified the educational certificates from the universities concerned. Some of the parliamentarians had resigned from their seats even before an inquiry was launched against them. Lahore Bar Association (LBA) Vice President Rana Javed Bashir Ahmad Khan told Daily Times that the five female MPAs could not only be arrested but also punished with seven years imprisonment. They can also be fined thousands of rupees under the sections imposed against them, he added.
He said that the Section 200 of the PPC says, “Using as true such declaration knowing it be false, whoever corruptly uses or attempts to use as true any such declaration, knowing the same to be false in any material point, shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave false evidence.” He said the Section 471 of the PPC says, “Using as genuine a forged document. Whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document, shall be punished in the same manner as if he had forged such document.”
The legal expert however, say the accused MPAs have an opportunity to get bail as their offence was bailable. Sources in the PML-N and PPP said that all the five MPAs would appear before court in the next couple of days to get interim bail.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk