Acquittal plea rejected in sedition case: Court fixes 27th as date for Gill’s indictment

ISLAMABAD: A court on Saturday dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill’s application for acquittal in a sedition case and fixed February 27 for framing of charges against him.

After hearing the case, Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra rejected the PTI leader’s acquittal plea and fixed February 27 as the date for his and co-accused Ammad Yousaf’s indictment in the case.

The special prosecutor and Gill’s lawyers appeared before the court. Gill and co-accused Ammad Yousaf were also present during the hearing.

While objecting to the acquittal application, special prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi said that everyone watches electronic media. Therefore, it’s not a case in which someone spoke something in somebody’s ear, and the latter spread whatever was conveyed.

Gill resents being described as ‘traitor’

He said that the court has already rejected the acquittal application of the co-accused and the stage for filing an acquittal application by the main accused has passed. Shahbaz Gill’s acquittal application is not admissible at this stage, he said, adding that the prosecution has sufficient material to prove the case.

At no stage did the PTI leader deny the crime, said the prosecutor. The accused criticised senior military officials, he pointed out and requested the court to reject his plea and frame charges against him and others.

While presenting his arguments, Shahbaz Gill’s counsel Murtaza Turi said that the application was filed under section 265-D. Section 124-A was included in the first information report (FIR) registered against the main accused for which a permission from the federal government is mandatory, he said.

He further said that the FIR had been registered on August 9. If the permission for including section 124-A was granted on August 10 then the case registered on August 9 is illegal, he said, adding that all the procedures related to the case had been completed on August 9 while the government gave its permission on August 10.

The counsel said it is the first case of its kind in which the complainant includes sections of his own choice. Police had included sections in the FIR as per the wish of the complainant.

At this, the judge said that the complainant is a magistrate and has knowledge of the law. No doubt the complainant is a magistrate but he is also a complainant, said the defence counsel. Therefore, police should have applied their own mind.

Shahbaz Gill’s other counsel Shehryar Tariq said that such a case could not be registered without the approval of the federal or provincial government. If the legal requirement for registration of an FIR has not been fulfilled then the entire action will be declared illegal, he said.

He said that the complainant had submitted a USB before the investigation officer (IO). The USB will be viewed in the context of Qanun-e-Shahdat and decisions of the Supreme Court, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023