ISLAMABAD: The opposition chief in the National Assembly and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Omar Ayub on Tuesday secured pre-arrest bail in five separate cases from various local courts.
Ayub is facing five separate cases registered against him at different police stations in federal capital; in connection with a sit-in protest in Islamabad last month on “final call” given by party’s founding jailed chairman Imran Khan.
The courts granted the opposition leader pre-arrest bail in the five cases and barred the police from arresting him till December 21.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Asif Mehmood accepted the interim bails of Ayub in two first information reports (FIRs) registered against him by Bhara Kahu and one Koral police stations, respectively, against surety bonds of Rs10,000 each, till December 21.
Similarly, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka approved the pre-arrest bail of Ayub in two cases registered against him by Secretariat and Aabpara police stations, respectively, against surety bonds of Rs5,000 each.
The court also sought records of all the five cases registered against Ayub from the police on next hearing.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) denied the request for an extended physical remand of 146 PTI activists, instead placing the accused in judicial custody in connection with D-Chowk protest.
ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sapra heard the case in which 146 PTI workers were produced before the court after their ten-day physical remand ended.
During hearing, the police prayed the court to grant further 20-day remand of the accused.
The defense lawyer opposed the request, saying a 14-year-old boy is also booked in the same case and nothing is recovered from his custody.
The defense lawyer said that the accused were produced after 11 days, adding that they are all laborers.
The court, subsequently, rejected the request of further remand and sent the accused jail in judicial custody.
In another case, an ATC extended two-day judicial remand of 54 PTI activists to complete identification parade in a case registered against them by Khanna police station in wake of D-Chowk sit-in last month.
ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sapra heard the case. However, the accused couldn’t be produced before the court and police prayed the court to grant further three-day remand of the accused.
The judge said that the court is granting only two days to complete the procedure and instructed the police to preset the accused on next hearing.
The judge remarked that the high court has stated that identification process should be completed within three days but the prosecution is demanding three more days.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
