Peshawar High Court. PHOTO: PPI/FILE
The order was issued by a two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Nasir Mehfooz, on Wednesday as it accepted their bail applications.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, when the government lawyer was asked by the court to explain why the suspects should not be released on bail, the additional advocate general told the court that the money changers had been arrested under the Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance to maintain peace during Muharram; hence their bail applications should not be accepted.
At this, the PHC Chief Justice Seth asked who had given the district administration the right to arrest people under the MPO as if they have done anything illegal.
Instead, CJ Seth remarked that first information reports (FIRs) should have been registered against the suspects instead of arresting them under the public order ordinance
The court subsequently accepted their bail applications. The court directed that the suspects must furnish two sureties of Rs0.2 million to secure bail and directed the Peshawar deputy commissioner to appear before the court along with the complete record of the case at the next hearing of the case
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had sealed a currency market and arrested 45 persons in Peshawar’s Chowk Yadgar area as part of efforts to prevent money laundering. The area is well-known for currency exchange dealers and there have been several raids in the past.
All the 45 persons were suspected of involvement in the hundi (informal money transactions) business.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2018.
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