LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed post-arrest bail petition of a man facing charges of raping and killing a minor girl in Pakpattan.

A counsel for the petitioner/accused argued before the court that the police registered a fabricated case against his client. He said the police could not produce any evidence against the petitioner and the trial had been commenced. Therefore, he said, there was no need to keep the petitioner behind the bars.

A deputy prosecutor opposed the bail petition and argued that the trial had been formally commenced after the indictment of the accused. He said the accused was declared a proclaimed offender before he joined the police investigation at a later stage of the trial, stressing he did not deserve any leniency.

A counsel for the complainant also adopted the arguments of the prosecutor and asked the court to dismiss the bail petition.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun dismissed the petition.

Pakpattan police had registered the case against Imran for killing a five-year-old girl after sexually assaulting her.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2022