KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Wednesday directed an investigating officer to submit a proper report of his investigation against three clerics booked for allegedly attacking a woman police officer and others and violation of the ban on congregational Friday prayers.

Haqqani Jamia Masjid’s prayer leader Abdul Rehman and mosque committee members Maulana Qavi Khan and Maulana Zareen Khan along with 20 to 25 others have been booked for allegedly inciting violence, attacking police and violating the ban on religious congregations imposed to control the spread of coronavirus.

Sharafat Khan, the female SHO of the Pirabad police station, intelligence officer Hayat Gul and Constable Abdul Salam were reportedly wounded by an enraged mob on April 10.

On April 14, the ATC-II judge had granted the trio interim pre-arrest bail against a surety bond of Rs50,000 each.

On Wednesday, the trio’s applications seeking confirmation of their interim bail came up for hearing when the IO of the case filed an investigation report recommending disposal of the case in ‘A’ class — such reports pertain to the cases in which accused persons are either unknown or untraceable.

ATC extends the interim pre-arrest bail of prayer leader and two mosque committee members till June 1

However, the judge found that the A-class report lacked proper authorisation by the senior police officer concerned. The court returned the same and directed the IO to submit a proper report on June 1.

Till then, the judge extended interim pre-arrest bail of the clerics.

In the bail pleas, defence counsel Mushtaq Jahangiri had submitted that his clients had nothing to do with the alleged offence of violating the government ban since the prayer leader and mosque administrative committee members were permitted to offer prayers in the mosque as per the standard operating procedure agreed between the government and ulema.

The counsel claimed that the police falsely booked the applicants in the present case. They apprehended their arrest and pleaded to grant them pre-arrest bail so that they could join the investigation.

According to the contents of the FIR, on receiving information about the presence of several people to offer prayers at the Haqqani Jamia Masjid, the Pirabad SHO along with two policemen reached the place and tried to persuade the mosque administration members that violation of the lockdown would result in the spread of the coronavirus.

The complainant, Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ashraf Arain stated that the prayer leader and the administrative committee’s president and secretary along with 20 to 25 other people attacked the police officers and resorted to violence.

An additional contingent was called in to disperse the violent protesters, who could not be arrested on the spot and were booked later.

A case was registered at the Pirabad police station.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2020