ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and two party activists were on Tuesday arrested in Islamabad High Court (IHC) following dismissal of their petitions seeking pre-arrest bail in the March 18 Sindh House storming case.

The PTI members National Assembly (MNAs) Faheem Khan and Ataullah Niazi as well as activists Tanveer Ahmed and Syed Sadaqat Ali Sherazi had filed the petitions seeking bail before arrest which was taken up by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.

The First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Secretariat police station, Islamabad, under section 427 (causing damage), 186 (obstructing public servant from performing lawful duty), 188 (disobedience to law), 147, 149 (rioting), 506 (criminal intimidation), 452 (trespassing) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The court on April 15 had granted the petitioners pre-arrest interim bail.

In the FIR it was alleged that the petitioners along with other members of the PTI forcibly tried to enter the Sindh House, violated Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), hurled abuses, raised slogans and broke a gate of the building.

IHC judge says there is sufficient evidence to connect petitioners with commission of crime

However, counsel for the petitioners Advocate Faisal Hussain and Ali Bukhari contended that their clients had not been nominated in the FIR, no evidence was available against them and the case had been registered with mala fide intentions.

Police recorded the statement of MNA Qadir Mandokhel and officials who were eyewitnesses to the occurrence and implicated the petitioners in the commission of crime, said the counsel.

The state counsel, on the other hand, said Syed Sadaqat Ali Sherazi was nominated in the FIR while the other three petitioners were nominated in a supplementary statement of the controller of Sindh House which was recorded the same day (March 18).

It was alleged that carrying batons the petitioners along with other suspects stormed Sindh House, damaged public property, attacked more than nine police officials/security staff on duty there, beat them up with fists and kicks besides tearing their official uniforms.

After breaking the gate of the building, they forcibly entered, hurled abuses and issued threats to members of National Assembly present in the Sindh House.

The petitioners are members of the National Assembly and custodians of law and the Constitution. Such an illegal and unjustified act is not expected from public representatives, Justice Jahangir observed.

He said bail before arrest cannot be claimed as a matter of legal right in each case and also it cannot be expected that it would be granted in each case unless legal requirements are met.

Justice Jahangiri observed that the relief of pre-arrest bail was granted only in those matters where it would appear that the registration of such a case was passed on enmity/mala fide or where no offence was shown to have been committed on the very face of record. However, this was not the case of the petitioners seeking bail.

The court noted that the counsel for the petitioners had not shown any mala fide against the complainants or police for registration of FIR.

“Custody of the petitioners/accused is required for the purpose of recovery and investigation. There is sufficient evidence available on record to connect the petitioners/accused with the commission of crime.”

The judge ruled that “accused have failed to make out a case for grant of pre-arrest bail. Consequently, the four bail petitions stand dismissed.”

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2022