Expired licence: IHC grants pre-arrest bail to doctor

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted on Monday pre-arrest bail to a doctor who had casually walked out of the drug court minutes before the dismissal of his bail plea on June 21.

A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb granted bail to Dr Ayaz Saeed against the surety of Rs200,000 after his counsel, Sardar Tariq Fareed Gopang, concluded his arguments over the bail application.

While granting bail, the bench issued notice to the drug inspector of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and sought the case record from the trial court.

The drug court chairperson, Khan Raheel Akhtar Yousafzai, had dismissed bail application of Dr Ayaz Saeed and his salesman, Asim Sohail, for not have a licence to dispense medicine in the clinic located in Karachi Company area.

According to the officials of the drug court, Dr Saeed has MBBS degree but he did not have the chemist licence to run the medical store established inside his clinic.

In his arguments, Gopang said that Saeed was not present at the clinic when the raid was conducted, adding that he had gone abroad after closing down the clinic as the licence could not be renewed within time.

Gopang said that the clinic was supposed to be closed and was temporarily opened by the servant for taking out his belongings, adding that there was no evidence of sale and purchase of drugs and no patient was being treated at the clinic when the raid was conducted.

Following the arguments, the bench granted bail and sought record of the case from trial court.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2016.