ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued a detailed order with regard to the bail granted to suspects in fake accounts case and Karkey plant references.

Also, the IHC chief justice summoned law and justice secretary to appear before the court on Saturday and explain the government’s position on the release of prisoners from the overcrowded Adiala jail.

The IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq on Thursday through a short order granted the bail to 24 accused persons, including leading banker Hussain Lawai, former director general of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Liaquat Ali Qaimkhani, former KMC directors Najamuz Zaman and Jamil Ahmed, businessman Dr Dinshaw Hoshang Anklesaria and Mustafa Zulqarnain, the son of a former president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

In the 11-page bail order, the IHC bench discarded the argument advanced by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) additional prosecutor general that after a proper screening only those suspects could be released who were suffering from coronavirus disease.

“The argument of learned Additional Prosecutor General, NAB to the effect that all the petitioners be tested for the disease and only if anyone is positive, he may be released on bail is not tenable in the facts and circumstances, as the approach being adopted worldwide, is prevention of the disease by way of isolation and/or quarantine,” the bench observed, citing the old saying that prevention is better than cure.

However, the court said, if NAB argument was sustained, it might be too late to prevent the disease from spreading. “It is reiterated that present circumstances are unprecedented requiring unprecedented measures,” the bench observed.

The petitioners incarcerated in the Rawalpindi’s central jail are facing charges under National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 and either investigations/inquiries or references are pending against them. The letters they wrote to the IHC through jail authorities were treated as applications under Article 199 of the Constitution.

According to the court order, the confined space of a prison makes it virtually impossible to implement the policy of “social distancing”.

Law secretary summoned

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Friday summoned the law and justice secretary to explain the government’s stance with regard to the release of prisoners from the overcrowded jail amid coronavirus threat.

Justice Minallah noted that the court in order to facilitate the government “had passed the orders while explicitly subjecting release of prisoners to the satisfaction of the executive officials. It appears to this Court that instead of performing obligations imposed under the law and in disregard to the fundamental rights of under trial prisoners who are presumed to be innocent, the orders passed by this court are, prima facie, being misinterpreted by senior officials of the government”.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2020