FAISALABAD, Aug 3: A local court on Saturday granted bail to all 30 accused, including prayer leader, involved in a stoning case who had been pardoned by deceased’s heirs.
The defence counsel presented pardon affidavits of legal heirs — Rasheedan Bibi (mother), Haneefan Bibi (widow), Khurram Shahzad, Naveed Shahzad (sons), Farrukh and Sameera (daughters) before court.
The counsel also presented four people — Faiz Rasool son of Din Muhammad, Abdul Khaliq son of Ali Muhammad, Maqbool Ahmad son of Muhammad Ali, and Ghulam Hussain son of Jamal Din before court. All belonging to Chak 103-JB (Barnala), Chak Jhumra, they testified that they were not eye-witnesses as claimed by the police as well as statements recorded under Section 161 CrPc by the prosecution.
They also claimed that Chak Jhumra police got their signatures on plain papers on the pretext that accused had nothing to do with the murder of Zahid Shah. However, subsequently police used all such papers for concocted statements against the accused.
The courtroom was jampacked with villagers, notables of the area and relatives of the arrested accused. Scores of villagers were also present outside the courtroom.
The Panchayat comprising influential people of the area had requested the legal heirs to pardon the arrested accused because deceased Zahid committed the blasphemy intentionally. The mother, wife, sons and daughters of Zahid accepted the request of the Panchayat and on Saturday filed pardon affidavits before court which granted bail to the accused people.
The relatives of the arrested accused had jointly filed a bail application before a civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate on July 11 who rejected it on the plea that the matter fell in the jurisdiction of the sessions court.
On July 13, the accused people moved a bail application before additional district and sessions judge. During the hearing on July 26, the judge observed that it was not a case of qatl-i-bessabab as described by the police but a qatl-i-amd case as the accused confessed that they had killed Zahid Shah with a motive.
These observations forced the defence counsel to seek adjournment and subsequently they sought “pardon” from the deceased’s heirs by exerting pressure on them through the village notables.
GANG-RAPE: The father of a gang-rape victim has demanded action against police officials for patronizing the rapists.
Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, Asghar Ali said his daughter Parveen (12) was gang-raped by Shakil Ahmad, Faryad Ali, Matloob and Liaquat Ali about one-and-a-half-year ago.
None of the accused was arrested by the police despite numerous appeals to the police high ups as they belonged to influential families of Chak 24-GB, Jaranwala, he said.
The influential people, he said, forcibly took away any women of lower caste of Machi without any check from the law enforcement agencies.
He said the Jaranwala SHO without conducting any investigation had declared the two accused as innocents after taking bribe.
Asghar Ali alleged that perpetrators were threatening him and his family members with dire consequences and forcing them not to pursue the case.
84 ARRESTED: The local traffic police arrested 84 drivers for violating traffic rules and recovered Rs1.8 million as fine from the violators during the first six months of the year.
This was claimed by Traffic SP Zahid Sherazi while talking to newsmen here on Saturday.
He said that 78,574 drivers were fined and 11,184 vehicles were impounded for violating traffic rules.
The chit system introduced by the Punjab traffic police was being modernized and policemen deputed for this purpose were being given special training, the SP said.
A comprehensive plan was also being conceived to redress the parking problem in commercial areas. Two lifters had already been acquired with the coordination of Tehsil Municipal Administration for this purpose, he said.
DIES: A contractor of the butcher house, who sustained bullet wounds three days ago, died here on Saturday.
Jawed alias Baida Qasai, gunman of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was attacked on Wednesday by two armed motorcyclists. He had been shifted to the Allied Hospital. His two sons Hamid and Amir, still under treatment in hospital, were stated to be in critical condition.
Gulberg police had registered a case against four assailants.
ARRESTED: Rail Bazaar police claimed arresting three bandits after an encounter near Sadiq Market here on Friday night.
Police received an information that an armed gang of bandits were looting the people near Sadiq Market. A police team rushed to the spot and arrested three of them after an encounter. Two dacoits, however, fled by taking advantage of the darkness. The arrested outlaws were identified as Abdul Waheed, Asif and Muhammad Ibrahim.