ATC confirms bail of suspects involved in court firing

Court acquits three family members of an acid attack victim

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday confirmed the bail of 15 suspects involved in a firing incident in the Islamabad District Court after a clash that erupted between the two rival parties.

The ATC judge granted bail to the suspects after listening to each party. Seven of the of 15 suspects are already released on bail against Rs100,000 surety bonds, whereas the remaining suspects were on judicial remand until Tuesday and were produced before the court where they filed a post-arrest bail application.

During the hearing, the court also confirmed the bail of the remaining suspects against surety bonds of Rs100,000. Margalla Police had arrested the suspects for their involvement in a firing incident that took place in the premises of district court. Police also recovered weapons and ammunition from their possession and impounded eight vehicles.

Imambargah attack

The police had registered a case under terrorism clauses against the suspects.

An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has charged a man for killing 19 worshipers at the Imambargah Shah-e-Najaf in Rawalpindi nearly two decades ago.

The court also adjourned a case involving three suspects in the airbase attack case.

Ahead of the hearing of the case on Tuesday, the suspect, Saifur Rehman, was brought to the anti-terror court in an armoured car.

The special anti-terror court charged Rehman in the imambargah attack case and directed the police to present witnesses and evidence at the next hearing of the case on April 2.

On February 26, 2002, terrorists riding a motorbike. Two of them barged into the imambargah and locked the door from the inside while a third stood to watch outside. Inside the terrorist engaged in a massacre.

While the police had arrested four men and an anti-terror court had sentenced them to death in 2004, the Lahore High Court-Rawalpindi bench in 2015 acquitted them for ‘insufficient proof’.

In a separate case regarding the attack on an airbase, three suspects including Rafaqat, Hasnain and Abdul Rasheed were presented before the court. However, the hearing was adjourned until next week and the prosecution was directed to present the charge sheet in the case.

In a separate case where a woman was killed after being attacked with acid, the anti-terror court acquitted the three suspects.

The anti-terrorism court’s special court one on Tuesday heard a case regarding the murder of Kiran bibi.

In the case, the woman’s husband Yasir Shah, her father-in-law Hussain Shah and mother-in-law Naveed Bibi had been arrested on August 4, 2017. However, the court on Tuesday acquitted the three suspects.

Cop killed from own bullet

A police volunteer died by his own hand on Tuesday after his gun accidentally discharged.

According to the police, 25-year-old police volunteer Babar was in his house and was cleaning his gun when it accidentally went off and the bullet fired from the gun lodged itself in Babar’s head.

As a result, Babar fell to the ground, dead. Police were called to the scene who secured all the evidence, including the gun and along with Rescue 1122, his body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for post-mortem.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2019.