Violation of Section 144: Court extends interim bail of Imran, others

ISLAMABAD: A local court on Wednesday extended the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders in the case registered against them on charges of violation of Section 144.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal, while hearing the bail pleas extended the interim bail of the PTI chief, Asad Qaiser, Asad Umar, Faisal Vawda, Saifullah Niazi, Sadaqat Abbasi, Shahzad Waseem, and others till September 27.

The city police had registered an FIR against Mr Khan and other PIT leaders on August 23 on charges of violating Section 144 (ban on public gatherings exceeding four persons) by holding a rally in the capital on August 20.

During the hearing, Mr Khan’s counsel Baber Awan and lawyers of Faisal Vawda, Asad Qaiser, and Asad Umar filed applications seeking a one-day exemption from personal appearance before the court which the court approved.

At the start of the hearing, Mr Khan’s counsel argued that the PTI chief was preparing to contest the upcoming elections for nine vacant National Assembly seats and would not appear today.

“When is the election to be held?” the judge asked, to which Awan replied that election is scheduled for September 25.

He further said that the section included in the FIR is bailable. To this, the judge remarked that Section 506 is non-bailable.

The judge asked, who is the investigating officer (IO)? Is the investigation complete, to which, the IO replied that the case record is available and the investigation has also been completed.

Awan told the court that Umar was in Lahore when the case was registered. “The video regarding his presence in Lahore on the day of rally held in Islamabad is available,” he said.

The judge directed the IO to probe the case on merit. If Asad Umar was not present in Islamabad, then remove him from the case, he said.

The defense counsel said that Saifullah Niazi was also not present in the federal capital the day the case was registered by the city police.

The judge asked the IO, are you listening to this?

He further directed the IO to remove the name of those who were not involved. The court after hearing the arguments extended the interim bail of Khan and others till September 27.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022