LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday issued a notice to Civil Lines police on post-arrest bail petition filed by Alamgir Wazir, nephew of MNA and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader Ali Wazir, in a sedition case lodged against him and other prominent participants in ‘Student Solidarity March’.

The police had registered an FIR on behalf of the state against six nominated and 250-300 unidentified participants in the march. The FIR carried sections 124-A (sedition), 290 (public nuisance) and 291 (continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue) of PPC, and offences under Punjab Sound System (Regulations) Act 2015 and Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960.

The petition filed through Advocate Abid Saqi stated the petitioner was absolutely innocent and had no nexus with the allegations provided in the FIR. It said there was an unexplained delay of two days before the lodging of the FIR and neither megaphone nor any loudspeaker was recovered from the place of alleged occurrence.

It argued that the FIR clearly mentioned that the accused himself did not speak at the rally. Therefore, it said, no offence under section 124-A of PPC was made out as per the facts narrated in the FIR.

The petition said the footage, as per the police, was recorded using mobile phones, however, no specific details of the mobile phones, including the make, model, or phone numbers were mentioned in the FIR.

It argued that the story of the prosecution was false and aimed to malign character and reputation of the petitioner. It said the alleged offence and the case required further probe entitling the petitioner to grant of bail.

The magistrate directed the investigating officer of the Civil Lines police to submit a reply to the petition on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2019