ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate in Bannu has issued arrest warrants for Judge Humayun Dilawar, who convicted PTI founder Imran Khan last year.

The warrants were issued on Tuesday on an application filed by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI is in power.

The anti-graft body is probing the judge’s family for alleged land grabbing, KP chief minister’s aide, retired Brig Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi has confirmed.

The ACE sought arrest warrants for the judge, his father, uncle and brother in a case registered against them on Monday under sections 409, 419, 420, 468, 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

KP CM’s aide says judge’s family being probed for ‘forging land documents’

Section 468 outlines an imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine for forgery. Section 409 deals with petty crimes committed by a public servant, Section 419 (personation) and Section 420 (cheating and dishonesty).

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While accepting ACE’s plea, Judicial Magistrate Bannu Mehbooul Hassan said that the prosecution sought warrants under Section 468 of the PPC, which is non-cognisable, whereas the rest of the charges are cognisable.

Cognisable offences are those where police can arrest a suspect without a warrant, while in case of non-cognisable offences, police need a warrant issued by the magistrate to apprehend the accused.

The magistrate directed the ACE to arrest the judge and his family members. “Warrants shall be deemed effective till the arrest of accused and their production before the court”, the order said.

On Aug 5 last year, Judge Dilawar handed a prison term of three years to the former prime minister on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan for not misdeclaration of assets.

Mr Abbasi, KP CM’s special assistant on anti-corruption, has accused the judge and his family of tempering a court decree to “illegally occupy” land.

In a video clip, he said the judge’s father, Dilawar Khan, and his brother, Sadiq Dilawar, allegedly forged the documents to transfer land worth Rs1.5 billion in their name and constructed a housing society there.

Ghulam Mursalin Marwat from Lakki Marwat also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024