ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday granted bail to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Senator Azam Swati in the controversial tweets case.
A single bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the PTI senator’s petition filed through advocate Babar Awan and sought post-arrest bail in the controversial tweets case filed against him.
The IHC bench accepted his bail against the submission of surety bonds worth Rs200,000.
During the proceeding, Osman Swati informed the bench that his father wrote a letter from the jail requesting the case to be transferred to another IHC bench. He added, “Today, I want to read this letter out loud in the courtroom.”
The CJ IHC stated that the court had received the letter and it is in front of him. He added that they have decided to form a larger bench on this matter. Justice Aamer said they want to settle this issue because the letter says that a judge is biased. He further said that such letters were not seen by the court publicly. He maintained that only a larger bench can solve this matter now.
At that, Awan requested the judge to hear the case today (Monday). However, Justice Aamer said that most of the senior judges were on vacation and they will form a larger bench next week. Upon that, the PTI’s counsel told the court that Osman had decided to withdraw his father’s letter.
Later, the lawyer presented his arguments, saying that the Sindh and Balochistan High Courts had quashed the cases against Swati. He also said that all these complaints against Swati have been taken out from pockets and he has never seen an FIR (first information report) in which the time and place are not mentioned. He also gave examples of previous cases in which politicians were granted bail on medical grounds.
The chief justice asked the FIA lawyer for his stance on the matter. He requested the court that the hearing should be adjourned as the special prosecutor was not present in court.
However, the court dismissed his request and reserved its verdict which was announced later granting bail to Swati.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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