A court in Islamabad Friday rejected the police request to extend the physical remand of senior PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in the sedition case.
Gill was earlier presented in court after the completion of his two-day remand. The court, however, granted his judicial remand while announcing the verdict it had reserved earlier during the early morning hearing. Gill was earlier presented in court after the completion of two-day remand in a sedition case. During the hearing, the police requested for an extension in Gill’s remand.
The investigation officer told the court that the CD of the private TV channel’s programme in which Gill had made anti-army remarks had been acquired and the audio evidence matched. On August 9, the Islamabad police officers arrested Shahbaz Gill for “inciting the public against state institutions”, according to the spokesman of the Islamabad police.
A treason case was registered against him at Kohsar Police Station under several sections Pakistan Penal Code, including 124-A (sedition), 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot if rioting be committed; if not committed), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), among others.
The court allowed the police to take off handcuffs of Shahbaz Gill during the proceedings. Moreover, the PTI leader was also permitted to meet his defence counsel within the courtroom. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders Ali Nawaz Awan, Kanwal Shauzab, and Fawad Chaudhry were also present during the hearing in the district court.
The investigation officer told the court that the police team probing the incident had found an audio recording of the TV program which matched the aired version. They also said that Shahbaz had left one cell phone in his car when he was intercepted by Kohsar police while the second one is still missing. On the other hand, Shahbaz Gill pleaded for court protection against alleged police torture. He contested that his medical examination was not conducted as claimed by the authorities and that he has obvious injuries consequent to severe police torture.
“I am tortured. Not allowed to meet the lawyers, nor permitted to sleep,” the PTI leader told Judge Omer Shabbir during the hearing. Speaking before the judge he also alleged that the report submitted by the medical board was ‘fake’ and he was not kept in the Koshar Police Station.
When asked about the primary charges leveled against him, Gill said, he cannot even imagine undermining the military of the country. “I am a professor, not a criminal,” he beseeched the court. Meanwhile, a court Friday granted bail to the wife of Shahbaz Gill’s driver, a day after she was arrested following a police raid at their house. The court approved Saira’s bail on submission of surety bonds of Rs30,000 and order her immediate release.
