LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) warned the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) against misusing his powers, asking him why he had told the court that there were only two cases against fashion designer Khadija Shah.

Justice Ali Baqar Najafi directed IGP Dr Usman Anwar to submit a written reply to a contempt petition by Ms Shah, challenging her arrest in the third case after she got bail in two cases of the May 9 riots.

Justice Najafi asked the IGP why the petitioner had not been released from jail after the trial court issued her robkar (release order) in two cases and police failed to get her remand in the third case.

The IGP explained that 45,000 people were involved in the May 9 riots and a thousand people had been arrested in light of reports based on information from WhatsApp groups, CCTV cameras, TV reports, and security agencies. He said on May 9, these people attacked the state installations like the Taliban.

Grills police chief over the case, asks him to submit written reply to contempt plea

“This is a significant case. Evidence is being collected from the people,” he added.

“Mr IGP, you gave a good speech. Why did you wait for bail to implicate Khadija Shah in another case?” Justice Najafi questioned.

The IGP said police obtained permission from the trial court to investigate Ms Shah in the new case following statements of three suspects lately arrested in the case. He said search for more suspects in the case, including former federal minister Hammad Azhar and former provincial minister Mian Aslam, was also still underway.

Defending the arrest of the petitioner in a new case, Punjab Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nahang said the investigation was an ongoing process and if new evidence emerged, it would be incorporated into the case. He said the case was very complex in nature as it involved at least 2,000 suspects.

Justice Najafi asked the law officer why the investigating officer (IO) of the case did not appear before the court.

Ms Shah’s lawyer said the IO skipped the hearing with mala fide intention. He said the FIA had implicated the petitioner in a fabricated case and presented her before a magistrate for physical remand.

The judge adjourned the hearing till Nov 10 and directed the IGP to submit a written reply.

FIA: A judicial magistrate denied physical remand of fashion designer Khadija Shah to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case of posting tweets on May 9 to incite public against the army.

An FIA team presented Ms Shah before the magistrate after bringing her from jail as she was on judicial remand in a police case of the May 9 riots.

FIA legal counsel Ijaz Khalil told the magistrate that the ‘objectionable’ tweets the fashion designer had made on May 9 were still being reposted by the social media users.

The agency requested the court for a 14-day physical remand of Ms Shah.

A counsel for Ms Shah rejected the claim of the agency, saying his client had been behind the bars for five months, how could she be tweeting from jail.

Magistrate Imran Abid turned down the FIA’s request for physical remand and sent Ms Shah to jail on judicial remand.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023