LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday quashed the sentence of Gullu Butt, an infamous character of Model Town incident, awarded under anti-terrorism law.

The court upheld his conviction under provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code.

An anti-terrorism court had on Oct 30, 2014, awarded a collective punishment (imprisonment) of 11 years and three months to Shahid Aziz alias Gullu Butt under five sections of laws.

The maximum punishment the court had awarded to Butt was five-year jail term under section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

He was slapped three months under section 186 of PPC, two years under section 353 of PPC, two years under section 427 of PPC and two years under section 506 of PPC.

As the punishment was to run concurrently, Butt was due to come out of jail after undergoing five-year sentence, the maximum penalty. Now he would be a free man any time since the high court set aside the five-year term under section 7-ATA and he had completed his maximum imprisonment of two years under the PPC.

The bench headed by Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi allowed Butt’s appeal against the sentence under the terrorism law but dismissed to the extent of conviction under PPC.

Gullu Butt was accused of rowdyism, obstructing public servants in discharge of official duties, smashing vehicles with a club outside Minhajul Quran Secretariat in Model Town on June 17, 2014 when a police contingent was engaged with protesting workers of Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Police personnel had not stopped Butt from his illegal activities rather acted as silent spectator and facilitated him.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017