LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday granted post-arrest bail to two suspects allegedly involved in harassment of a woman in Ichhra Bazaar for wearing a shirt with Arabic-script print.

Judge Arshad Javed allowed the bail petitions of Khurram Shahzad and Muhammad Ali alias Chand Butt and directed them to furnish surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

The lawyers for the suspects argued that the police arrested their clients without any evidence and only to show performance to the government. They asked the court to release the petitioners on bail.

According to the FIR, dozens of religiously-charged people accused a woman of blasphemy in Ichhra bazaar as they confused the Arabic text with Quranic verses.

The mob threatened to kill the woman.

However, a police team rescued the woman and shifted her to a police station.

REMAND: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday denied further physical remand of a lawyer to the police in a case of posting hate material against the state institutions and sent him to jail on judicial remand.

Sanda police presented Advocate Mian Abdul Mateen before the court on expiry of his physical remand.

The investigating officer requested for further custody of the lawyer.

However, Judge Arshad Javed turned down the request and sent the lawyer to jail on judicial remand.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2024