Islamabad court confirms Imran's bail in remarks against judge case

Islamabad district and sessions court Thursday confirmed former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Pakistan (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s bail in a case related to controversial remarks against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry, Aaj News reported.

Last week, Civil Judge Kamran Basharat granted interim bail to Imran Khan till October 13 against surety bonds of Rs50,000.

Khan was booked in a case for threatening the judicial and police officers at a rally in F-9 Park on August 20.

Two FIRs were registered against Imran at Islamabad's Margalla Police Station and Kohsar Police Station under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

However, on September 19, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) quashed the terror charges and directed to transfer of the case to a relevant court under the remaining sections in the FIR.

On September 30, Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim issued arrest warrants for Imran as he had not obtained bail from the sessions court where the case was transferred. Subsequently, the PTI chief approached IHC for pre-arrest bail, which was later accepted.

Earlier today, the former premier appeared before the court with his lawyer Babar Awan and PTI leader Asad Umar.

During the hearing, the court mentioned that Imran had failed to submit surety bonds worth Rs50,000. However, PTI lawyers requested that the amount should be reduced to Rs5,000.

Presenting his arguments, Awan said that there were two cases registered against Imran — one at the Kohsar police station and the other at the Margalla police station.

He said that his client had been granted bail in the case registered at the Kohsar police station.

To this, the judge asked if the prosecutor had something to say.

Prosecutor Wajid Munir said that Section 505, which is a non-bailable offence, has been included in the case registered against Imran at the Kohsar police station.

Awan said that another case against Imran had been registered at the Margalla police station. “The terrorism charges in the case were struck down by the IHC.”

The judge subsequently remarked that there were no non-bailable offences in this case, and confirmed the bail.

The court subsequently instructed the PTI chief to submit surety bonds worth Rs5,000 and Rs50,000 at the Margalla and Kohsar police stations respectively.