- July 25, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s physical remand in 12 instances about the May 9 riots was overturned by a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday. Additionally, the bench canceled the PTI founder’s video-link attendance notification. The PTI founder filed petitions contesting his 10-day physical remand in 12 cases related to the May 9 riots, and the division bench, made up of Justices Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Anwaarul Haq Pannun announced the reserved ruling on those cases. After the parties’ earlier-in-the-day arguments, the bench had reserved the verdict.
Prosecutor General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah responded to the bench’s directives by providing a record of cases against the PTI founder and progress updates during the proceedings. He said that the PTI founder was on interim bail and could not have been taken into custody sooner in response to several bench questions. According to him, the PTI founder was taken into custody so that investigations could continue after an anti-terrorism court refused to grant him bail.
After reading the PTI founder’s tweets, the prosecutor general proposed that they were part of a preconceived narrative. He asked for the PTI founder’s petitions to be dismissed, claiming that doing so would prevent them from conducting their investigation and from recovering the cell phones that were used for tweeting.
Barrister Salman Safdar, the PTI founder’s attorney, countered that since his client was not physically present in court to secure the remand, the anti-terrorism court had improperly ordered a 10-day physical remand of his client in 12 instances about the May 9 riots. To present his case to the court, he further contended that the accused’s presence was required by law. He implored the court to rule that the PTI founder’s remand was unlawful.
The bench then withheld its decision after the arguments were concluded. Later, in 12 cases about the May 9 riots, the bench granted the PTI founder’s pleas and overturned his physical remand. Through his appeals, the PTI founder has contested his 10-day physical remand in twelve cases about the May 9 riots. In 12 cases, the police were given a 10-day physical remand of the PTI founder by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on July 15. The founder of the PTI was placed under remand in five cases filed with the Sarwar Road Police Station, three cases at the Gulberg Police Station, and one case at each of the police stations in Race Course, Shadman, Mughalpura, and Model Town.