ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the bail petitions of Hussain Lawai, Taha Raza and Muhammad Umair and directed their counsel to approach the High Court for bail on the ground of hardship.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, on Monday heard the bail petitions of Hussain Lawai, Taha Raza, and Umair against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC’s) verdict. The IHC, on April 21st, had dismissed their bail petitions in the fake bank accounts case.

Hussain Lawai’s lawyer contended that their clients have been languishing in jails for the last two years and eight months, while the co-accused had been granted bail.

He argued that the Supreme Court had ordered the NAB to file references in two months, but it was filed after two years. He said that out of 69 NAB witnesses, only one witness had been cross-examined so far.

Justice Mushir Alam remarked that the NAB arrested people, but filed references against them after six months or a year.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that the accused had filed applications for transfer of cases from Islamabad to Karachi. He said that though the apex court had not granted stay order, they were delaying the cases. He further contended that charges against the accused could not be framed in the absence of their counsel.

Justice Qazi Amin questioned how framing of charges can be linked with the lawyers’ presence?

He said the matter of framing charges was between the court and the accused.

Justice Yahya Afridi observed that the hardship was not the ground of accused’s bail applications.

He said the accused have sought bail on medical grounds.

He told the accuseds’ lawyers that if they wanted bail on the basis of hardship then they approach the High Court.

The bench with the consent of both the parties disposed of the bail petitions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021