RAWALPINDI, May 26: A court has adjourned till Thursday framing of charges against 13 PML-N activists, including adviser to the prime minister on women development Nilofar Bakhtiar, in a case related to an alleged attack on the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench.
The senior civil judge, Abdur Rehman, also issued notice to the prosecution after adjourning the case as Nilofar Bakhtiar's counsel, Samina Jadoon, through an application, contended before the court that charges could not be framed against the accused as the same case was on trial in two courts.
According to the law no case could be put on trial in two courts simultaneously, she contended. She said the incident had taken place 10 years ago when the court denied bail to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, now the federal information minister and then a PML-N member, who was nominated in the case for allegedly possessing a Kalashinikov.
The government at that time had withdrawn the case against Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, while, the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench had already handed down six months imprisonment to PML-N activists for resorting to violence under a contempt of court case.
Ms Jadoon said at one side the government had withdrawn the main case against Sheikh Rashid while on the other the Supreme Court had ordered a day-to-day hearing of the case despite the fact that there were no independent eye-witnesses to the case except some staff of the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench.
Besides, she said, many of the witnesses were also not appearing in the court to record their statements. Similarly, she observed that the PML-N demonstration could not be included in the contempt of court circle as the activists had protested outside the court and not inside the court premises.
Nilofar Bakhtiar was also present in the court. Initially, as many as 24 PML-N activists were nominated in the case. However, later the case against 13 activists, including seven women, was taken up by the civil court, Ms Jadoon told Dawn.
