Bail plea of Shahbaz Gill: Court orders prosecution, defense to submit arguments today

ISLAMABAD: A local court on Monday hearing the post-arrest bail application of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and party chairman Imran Khan’s chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, expressed annoyance over the delay in the production of the record by the police and ordered the prosecution and the defense counsel to submit their arguments on Gill’s bail plea in a sedition case filed against him.

Additional District and Session Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry said this while hearing Gill’s petition seeking post-arrest bail in a sedition case.

Gill was arrested by the police on August 9 at Bani Gala Chowk on charges of “sedition” and “inciting the public against the state institutions”.

At the start of the hearing, the prosecution requested the court to adjourn the hearing for a short time as advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi will submit its power of attorney after some time.

Faisal Chaudhry, Gill’s counsel told the court that “we are ready, please hear our arguments”.

“Please, hear our arguments and issue a verdict on the plea today”, he requested the court.

At this, the judge remarked that a similar kind of matter is pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as well.

To this, Faisal argued that the matter under trial before the IHC is regarding the order of the judicial magistrate and, therefore, this court can hear the case regardless of the case in the high court.

“It is a declared law that no one can be kept in jail for a single minute without reason”, he said, adding that the government wanted to delay this matter.

The court observed that the investigation officer (IO) of the case produce a record of the case till 11am and the counsel should also file its power of attorney and start the arguments. The court took a break after that.

After the break when the court started hearing the case, the defense counsel told the court that the police should produce its record and then he will start arguments. The court again directed the IO to produce the case record and adjourned the hearing till 2pm.

When the court resumed hearing of the case after the break, Gill’s counsel Hafeezullah Yaqub appeared before the court. When the judge inquired about the record of the case, she was informed that the record has not yet been produced.

The judge remarked that she will start hearing as soon as the record of the case was submitted. On this, Gill’s counsel told the judge that you know why the record is not being produced. The court again took a break after that.

After the break when the hearing started, the judge inquired about Raja Rizwan Abbasi advocate. Where is Rizwan Abbasi advocate, the judge asked.

The court directed both the prosecution and the defense to submit their arguments on Tuesday (today) and adjourned the case till Tuesday.

According to the petition filed by Gill’s counsel, the incumbent coalition government had filed false cases to “settle scores” with the PTI, and that their “false FIR” was filed to achieve political objectives. The petition requested the dismissal of the order of the judicial magistrate and asked for approval for Gill's physical remand.

It stated that the court should declare that the order given in Gill’s case was “not a judicial order but an administrative order”. The petition further maintained that during the investigation, the police could not prove any allegations against Shahbaz Gill. Chaudhry requested the court that the PTI leader be granted post-arrest bail.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022