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Lahore: The charges slapped on Pakistan's legendary squash player and former world champion Jansher Khan, who is in jail pending trial, could result in the death penalty.
According to his family and friends in Lahore, Jansher Khan was arrested and sent to the Peshawar central jail on July 14 after his bail application was rejected by a local court.
He has been charged with the forceful occupation of a house, firing and intimidating the inmates, including a woman.
His family circles say that it has now dawned upon Jansher Khan that under section 354-A, under which he has been charged, a convict can be sentenced to death or be given a life term.
Khan has written to President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz urging them to intervene and ensure that he suffers no injustice.
His family members say that a high-level inquiry has already been ordered into how a squash legend has been charged under Section 354-A of the Pakistan Penal Code instead of simple Section 354 when complainant Rukhsana Habib came to the West Cantonment police station on June 8.
"Under Section 354, an accused can be sentenced for a few years or given a nominal fine. One can be charged under Section 354-A of the PPC only when he assaults a woman or strips someone in public," a senior lawyer explained.
The aggrieved Rukhsana, wife of Ghulam Habib, had registered a complaint against Khan and one of his relatives in the West Cantonment Police Station accusing them of misbehaving with her and other family members, firing, forcefully entering and occupying their house at Lal Kurti in the cantonment area over an ownership dispute. Khan was subsequently booked under sections 354-A, 452, 506 and 447 PPC.
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