LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Punjab to submit a written reply by November 10 to a contempt petition of Khadija Shah challenging her arrest in the third case besides bail in two cases of the May 9 riots.

Defending the arrest of the petitioner in a new case, a law officer said the investigation was an ongoing process and if new evidence emerged, it will be incorporated into the case.

The court asked the law officer why the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case did not appear before the court.

Khadija's counsel said the IO skipped the hearing with mala fide intention. He said the FIA also implicated the petitioner in another fabricated case.

The court asked the IGP why the petitioner had not been released from jail after the trial court issued her release order (robkar) in two cases.

The IGP explained that as many as 45,000 people were involved in the May 9 riots.

He said a thousand people had been arrested in light of reports based on information from WhatsApp groups, CCTV cameras, TV reports, and security agencies. He said on May 9, these people attacked the state installations like the Taliban.

This is a significant case and evidence is being collected from the people, the IGP added.

"Mr. IGP, you gave a good speech. Why did you wait for bail to implicate Khadija Shah in another case?” the court questioned.

The court further asked the IGP why he told that there were only two cases against the petitioner and warned the police chief against misusing powers.

The IGP said police obtained permission from the trial court to investigate Khadija Shah in the light of new statements of three suspects lately arrested in the case.

Meanwhile a judicial magistrate denied physical remand of Khadija Shah to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case of posting tweets on May 9 to incite public against the institution of army.

A counsel of FIA told the magistrate that the social media users were still posting the objectionable tweets of the Ms Shah made on May 9 and demanded her 14-day physical remand.

Khadija Shah’s counsel rejected the claim and said, how, could she tweet from jail as she had been behind the bars for the last five months. The magistrate inclining with Khadija’s counsel denied her physical remand.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023