A local court in Islamabad on Tuesday granted the police a two-day physical remand of journalist Jameel Farooqui, who was arrested from Karachi a day ago in a case pertaining to controversial remarks and ‘false accusation’ against the Islamabad Police.
Farooqui was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Mian Azhar Nadeem by the police. The police requested the court to grant physical remand of the accused for investigation into the case.
However, the defence lawyer opposed the remand request and prayed the court to discharge his client. Farooqi, on the occasion, said he was tortured after being arrested, adding that police wanted physical remand only to torture him. The lawyer said his client had repeated the remarks of PTI’s Leader Shahbaz Gill in his program. Now what police wanted to recover from him during remand, he said.
After listening to the arguments, the court reserved its verdict and later granted the police a two-day physical remand of the accused.
In a statement issued Monday, the capital city police had stated that Farooqui levelled accusations in his v-log that the police had physically and sexually assaulted Gill. The police had indicated action against those making inflammatory, fabricated, and false allegations, the statement added.
Gill is in police custody and the PTI has been repeatedly claiming that he has been humiliated, tortured, and sexually abused – but the police have denied all allegations and also submitted a report to a high court.
While he was being taken to Islamabad from Karachi, a video circulating on social media showed Farooqui crying and claiming that he was “stripped and tortured” by the police on the “orders of the home ministry as he was speaking the truth”.
