KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Sunday discharged 22 activists of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in a case pertaining to the violating of Section 144 of the criminal procedure code (CrPC).

The activists were booked and arrested after a police action on their protest camp set up outside the Karachi Press Club on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, the investigating officer (IO) brought the 22 BYC activists before Judicial Magistrate (South) Muzamil Ali Soomro and sought their 14-day physical remand for interrogation

After hearing the IO and the defence counsel Aamir Nawaz Warraich, the court discharged the activists under Section 63 of the CrPC and directed the IO to submit the challan within the stipulated time.

The magistrate also ordered the suspects to submit a surety bond of Rs5,000 each and set August 12 as the next date of hearing for the final report.

Explaining the reasons for discharging the suspects, the judge noted in his order: “It is provided under Section 195(i)(ii) of the CrPC, a magistrate cannot take cognizance of a case under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) unless the concerned officer or his superior files a complaint. Hence, the provision of Section 188 PPC can only be invoked when the provisions of Section 195 CrPC are complied with.”

During the hearing, the defence counsel argued that the FIR was registered under Section 188 of the PPC, which can only be invoked with permission from higher authorities.

He contended that the police had falsely implicated his clients, who were peacefully protesting and exercising their constitutional rights. He requested the court to discharge his clients from the case under Section 63 of the CrPC.

Earlier, the police had detained over 40 protesters, including children. Among them, 13 women and nine underage boys were released later. However, a case was registered at the Artillery Maidan police station under Section 188 of the PPC against the 22 activists — Gohram Khan, Saifuddin, Abid Ali, A. Khaliq, Jan Muhammad, Muhammad Shah, A. Samad, Sameer Asghar, Zohaib, Sajid, Amir, Hassam, Mubeen, Muhammad Yasir, Shabir Ahmed, Meer Jaffar Khan, Oliya Habib, Akmal, Shah Noor, Pervaiz Murad, Muhammad Saleem, and Shah Hussain — for violating a ban on unlawful assembly in the Red Zone.

As many as 13 other BYC activists, who were arrested in a case pertaining to “promoting enmity between different groups” and remanded in police custody for one day, would be produced in court on Monday (today).

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2024