LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday disposed of a habeas corpus petition against the detention of Hafiz Saad Rizvi, leader of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), for being infructuous.

A provincial law officer told the court that the Supreme Court had remanded the matter of Rizvi’s detention to a division bench of the high court for a fresh decision. Therefore, he said, in the presence of the apex court order the habeas corpus petition had become infructuous. He also presented a copy of the apex court’s order before the court.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh disposed of the petition as infructuous.

Rizvi’s uncle Ameer Hussain had filed the petition pleading that the court had on Oct 1 set aside the detention of the TLP leader and directed the government to release him if not required in any case.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the government instead of releasing Rizvi got his detention extended through a federal review board. He said the act of the government was contempt of court and the detention of Rizvi was illegal. However, the government later withdrew its application before the federal review board.

The government approached the Supreme Court against the LHC order whereby the detention of Rizvi was set aside. The apex court suspended the operations of the LHC single bench order and remanded the case for a fresh decision by a division bench.

The detention of Rizvi had come after his organisation (TLP) staged sit-ins across the country demanding that the government expel the ambassador of France in the wake of blasphemous cartoons. The protesters had turned violent and attacked the police personnel.

bail plea dismissed: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday dismissed post-arrest bail petition of a lawyer in a case of ransacking the copy branch of the Lahore High Court.

A counsel for the suspect lawyer argued that the incident was a result of a prolonged mental agony his client faced at the hands of the copy branch staff. He said the conduct of the branch’s staff provoked the lawyer to take that extreme step.

Opposing the bail petition, a state prosecutor argued that the incident brought a bad name to the justice system of the country. He said the lawyer did not deserve the concession of bail.

After hearing the arguments, Presiding Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta dismissed the bail petition of Advocate Majid Jahangir.

Old Anarkali police had registered the first information report of the incident under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt), 506B (criminal intimidation) of Pakistan Penal Code. The police also added section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 in the case.

The lawyer had smashed the glass shields of all counters in the copy branch allegedly for a delay in issuance of attested copy of a judicial order.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2021