ISLAMABAD: A local court on Friday rejected the police’s request for an extension in physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry and sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in case over alleged incitement to violence against a constitutional institution.
The city police produced Chaudhry before judicial magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja after the expiry of his two-day physical remand. Chaudhry was arrested from Lahore on January 25. The court, while announcing its reserved judgment, sent Chaudhry to jail on 14-day judicial remand.
The city police on January 25 registered a case against the PTI leader at Kohsar police station on the complaint of Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Umar Hameed Khan.
The first information report (FIR) was registered under sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief), and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
During the hearing, Chaudhry’s lawyers, Babar Awan, Faisal Chaudhry, and Ali Bukhari, and ECP’s lawyer Saad Hasan appeared before the court.
At the onset of the hearing, the prosecutor told the court that the voice matching of the accused had been carried out but the photogrammetry test of Chaudhry has not yet been conducted. He requested the court to extend the physical remand of the PTI leader to conduct a photogrammetry test from Lahore and make recovery from him.
During the hearing, Saad Hassan, the counsel for the ECP, read out the FIR before the court. The ECP is a constitutional body and has the authority to hold elections in the country, adding the PTI leader targeted the commission through a well-thought plan. The main objective of Chaudhry’s speech was to incite the masses in order to create hatred against the ECP.
The investigating officer (IO) of the case said the court approved the remand at 12am for two days, therefore practically the police had given one-day remand. He also requested the court to extend the physical remand of the accused to conduct a further investigation of him.
The ECP counsel said the statement of Chaudhry was present on record and he also owned it. A campaign had been launched after regime change against the electoral body, he said. He further added that the Election Commission’s role in the next few months was very important. The prosecutor said it was necessary to search Chaudhry’s residence to confiscate his mobile phone and laptop.
He said the court during the previous hearing rejected the request seeking discharge from the case. “The ECP’s employees were told that they do the job of clerk. The ECP employees were threatened that the PTI will reach our homes,” he said.
Awan told the court that his client was a senior leader of PTI and why Fawad’s face was covered by the police with a cloth following his arrest. “Even Kulbushan Yadav’s face was not covered after his arrest so why was Fawad’s face covered with a white cloth,” he said.
He said the secretary of ECP was not the State. “ECP is neither the federal government nor National Assembly,” he said.
He said the public servants were neither a part of the provincial nor the federal government. He said the prosecution had so far not told the court what they wanted from Chaudhry. The prosecution was saying that they were searching other accused of the case, he said, adding that “whom they arrest they pressurise him to name the person sitting in Lahore (Imran Khan).” The court, after hearing the arguments of both parties, reserved its judgment for some time. Later, while announcing its verdict, the court sent the PTI leader to jail on judicial remand.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry filed a petition before the judicial magistrate through his counsel seeking post-arrest bail soon after being sent on the 14-day judicial remand by the court. According to the petition that the PTI leader has falsely been involved in the instant case by the complainant with malafide intention and ulterior motives just to harass, pressurise and blackmail the present petitioner. It says that Fawad was arrested unlawfully and without any justification in negation of the law.
Sessions Judge Tahir Mahmood Khan forwarded the bail application to Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Gillani for fixing it for hearing. The judge issued notices to all the parties and adjourned the hearing till Saturday (today).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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