LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended a decision of a special court imposing fine on the Punjab secretary for home, the inspectors general of police and the prisons for not presenting former chief minister Parvez Elahi before the trial court.

Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh passed the order on an appeal of the government filed through the advocate general office.

Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn appeared on behalf of Mr Elahi and opposed the government’s appeal. He argued that the police were bound to produce a suspect before the trial court once in 14 days.

He said the police officials deliberately failed to produce Elahi before the trial court and they were liable to be punished.

Justice Sheikh observed that apparently the government’s lawyer could restrict the appearance of a suspect before the trial court who was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

The judge suspended the impugned decision and sought arguments from both sides by Aug 3.

Special Court Judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad had taken exception to the shifting of Mr Elahi from Lahore to Rawalpindi jail without the court’s permission and issued show cause notices to the secretary for home, the inspectors general of the police and the prisons.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on each officer in addition to an order for the attachment of their salaries.

The judge was hearing a money laundering case against Elahi wherein he is on judicial remand.

The police had told the judge that the superintendent of Adiala jail refused to hand over the custody of Elahi due to his detention orders under the MPO.

Police had registered a money laundering case against Parvez Elahi, his son Moonis Elahi and others.

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd, 2023