LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday granted post-arrest bail to three brothers in the Lahore Corps Commander House (Jinnah House) attack case.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, allowed the petitions of Faizan, Wali and Waqas.

Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq appeared on behalf of the petitioners and argued that police arrested them without any evidence. He said the petitioners were not even present on the alleged occurrence. He said the police could not produce any evidence against the petitioners.

The counsel argued that the petitioners were behind bars for several months without any conviction.

A deputy prosecutor opposed the bail petitions, saying the presence of the suspects at Jinnah House was established through their mobile phones.

Judicial remand of Aliya, Sanam extended in police station attack case

He said since challan of the case had been submitted to the trial court, the suspects did not deserve bail at this stage. The bench ordered the suspects to furnish bail bonds of Rs100,000 each for their release.

Sarwar Road police had registered a case against the leaders and activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for attacking and ransacking the Jinnah House during the May 9 riots.

During the last two months, over 200 activists, including women, had been granted bail in the Jinnah House attack case by different courts.

Besides terrorism charge under Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997, various offences including waging or attempting to wage a war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan, abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier from his duty and rioting were added in the FIR.

Judicial remand extended

An anti-terrorism court on Monday extended the judicial remand of PTI’s former MNA Aliya Hamza Malik and social media activist Sanam Javed in Shadman police station attack case.

The police brought both women from Sargodha jail to Lahore’s court for proceedings.

Judge Arshad Javed extended the judicial remand of the women for another 14 days and police took them back to jail.

The judge also adjourned a case of torching police vehicles in the cantonment area against the two women and other leaders of the PTI, including Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, former governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Mian Mahmoodur Rashid.

The suspects had been indicted in this case with the testimony of four prosecution witnesses recorded so far.

The judge postponed three more May 9 cases against the PTI leaders and workers till April 25.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024