LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Thursday set aside the physical remand of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in 12 cases related to the May-9 riots.
The bench also canceled the notification for the video-link attendance of the PTI founder.
The division bench, comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Anwaarul Haq Pannun, announced the reserved verdict on petitions, filed by the PTI founder challenging his 10-day physical remand in 12 cases of the May-9 riots. The bench had reserved the verdict upon completion of arguments by the parties earlier in the day.
During the proceedings, Prosecutor General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah presented a record of cases against the PTI founder as well as progress reports, in response to the bench’s directions in the previous hearing.
In response to various bench queries, he submitted that the PTI founder was on interim bail and could not be arrested earlier. He stated that the PTI founder was arrested after an anti-terrorism court denied him bail and his custody was required for investigations.
The prosecutor general also read the PTI founder’s tweets and suggested that they created a specific narrative. He requested the dismissal of the PTI founder’s petitions, arguing that it would impede their investigation and the recovery of the mobile phones used for tweeting.
However, the PTI founder’s counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar, submitted that the anti-terrorism court had illegally granted a 10-day physical remand of his client in 12 cases related to the May 9 riots, as he was not physically produced in court to obtain the remand. He further argued that the physical presence of the accused was mandatory according to the law, allowing him to present his case before the court. He pleaded with the court to declare the PTI founder’s remand illegal.
Subsequently, upon the completion of arguments, the bench reserved its verdict.
Later, the bench allowed the PTI founder’s petitions and set aside his physical remand in 12 cases of the May 9 riots.
The PTI founder, through his petitions, had challenged his 10-day physical remand in 12 cases related to the May 9 riots. On July 15, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) had granted the police a 10-day physical remand of the PTI founder in 12 cases. The PTI founder had been remanded in five cases registered at Sarwar Road Police Station, three cases at Gulberg Police Station, and one case each at Race Course, Shadman, Mughalpura, and Model Town police stations.