ISLAMABAD: A local court on Wednesday granted bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry in alleged inciting violence case against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the condition he would not repeat such a word in future against a constitutional institution.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Faizan Haider Gillani while hearing Chaudhry’s post-arrest bail plea approved the bail of PTI’s leaders against the surety bonds of Rs 20,000. At the start of the hearing, the investigation officer (IO) of the case produced the record before the court. The judge told the counsel of PTI leader Babar Awan, “Congratulations! the case record has arrived.”
During the hearing, PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan said that the first information report (FIR) against his client had been registered by secretary ECP. The ECP secretary is not a government and he is a single individual, he said, adding that telling someone that he will take action against you does not mean that he threatened him.
He said that a small number of verdicts of the court are there regarding the section included in the FIR registered against his client. Chaudhry has been nominated in a false case, he said.
Awan requested the court to grant bail to his client.
The judge said to Awan that your client is a senior lawyer and a parliamentarian. Awan replied that in the past, a female PTI leader Shireen Mazari was called “tractor trolley.”
The court then reminded Awan that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had also spoken in a similar tone about Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry. “Yes, I had resolved that issue as well,” Awan said.
The prosecutor while objecting to Chaudhary’s bail petition said that the ECP officials were targeted and called “Munshi (clerk)”. The PTI leader’s statements incited people against the ECP, he said. ECP lawyer Saad Hassan said that the PTI leader’s photogrammetric and voice match tests had been conducted. The judge asked when Fawad has accepted the statements, then what was the need for the photogrammetric test?
“Fawad Chaudhry can retract his earlier statement during the trial,” the counsel replied. The judge remarked that Chaudhry should have not issued such remarks and approved his bail.
It is pertinent to be mentioned here that Chaudhry was arrested from Lahore on January 25. Police registered a case against the PTI leader at Kohsar police station on the complaint of the ECP Secretary Umar Hameed Khan. An FIR was registered under Sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief), and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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