KARACHI: A sessions court granted on Monday interim pre-arrest bail to the founder of FixIt, Alamgir Khan, while a magistrate also released seven other detained campaigners on bail in a case pertaining to rioting and blocking road during a protest.

Police had booked Khan, who had launched a campaign called FixIt by spray painting political graffiti on roads near open manholes.

His supporters too were booked for rioting and blockade when they tried to move towards Governor House after staging a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club protesting against poor quality education in Karachi on Sunday.

Police had also used teargas shells and water cannon to disperse them and arrested seven protesters.

The investigating officer produced the detained suspects before a judicial magistrate (South) and sought their custody for a week.

However, the magistrate ordered their release against a surety bond of Rs5,000 each since the offences were bailable.

Meanwhile, Alamgir Khan moved a pre-arrest bail application before an additional district and sessions court (South) and after a preliminary hearing, the court granted him interim bail against a surety bond of Rs10,000 till Nov 23.

The Artillery Maidan police registered a case against them under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty) of Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017