ISLAMABAD: Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Hafiz Hamdullah was granted bail by a local court on Thursday in a case pertaining to 'misbehaving with and threatening' female rights activist Marvi Sirmed .

Sirmed had launched a complaint against the senator in Kohsar Police Station on Tuesday after which an FIR under sections 394 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered, following which he applied for bail.

The senator's lawyer, Zaheerullah, claimed a false complaint had been lodged against his client, adding that allegations against his client easily qualify for bail, hence this request should be entertained.

Additional Session Judge Raja Asif accepted the appeal for bail until June 23 and instructed Senator Hamdullah to submit a bond of Rs30,000. The judge also issued instructions to Kohsar Police Station authorities to present the record of the case at the next hearing.

The verbal clash between Hamdullah and Sirmed happened last week in a talk show on a private channel, parts of which were later aired on NewsOne.

Talking to DawnNews, Sirmed said Hamdullah had also tried to physically attack her, forcing panelist Fayaz ul Hassan Chauhan to get in the way to stop him and have the channel's management call its security staff.

Later, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued a notice to the channel.

Police had delayed the filing of the case due to failure to obtain footage of the show, which they wanted to watch before registering the report. But finally, after watching the footage of the said show, the case was registered.

According to the standard operating procedure (SOP), the Senate chairman had been informed about the incident, police claimed.

Sirmed had alleged that police were not cooperating with her and said that she had decided to approach a court to seek registration of her FIR.

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