‘Wrong man’ used to obtain pre-arrest bail

Investigation officer refuses to release the suspect, informs the court.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Friday directed an investigation officer (IO) to produced record and the original register of the Lorry Adda police station after a lawyer obtained pre-arrest bail for a client allegedly by producing an impersonator before the court. The IO claimed that the person was already in police custody.

Lorry Adda Assistant Sub Inspector Muhammad Bashir (investigation officer) said that Advocate Muhammad Tahir Dogar on Friday presented a man in Judge Muhammad Saleem’s court seeking pre-arrest bail for him. The person identified himself as Zulfiqar.

After the judge granted bail, the lawyer approached the Lorry Adda police and demanded that they release Zulfiqar. The IO said that he pointed out that Zulfiqar was arrested on August 4 and could not be released until he was presented before a court.

Later, the IO appeared in the court and told the judge that the lawyer had produced a wrong man to get the pre-arrest bail. He told the judge that the lawyers showed him court orders and insisted him to release the accused. The IO said that he refused to oblige as the bail could not be granted until the accused was produced in court.

The judge observed that he was shocked to know that the lawyer had unlawfully acquired the bail for his client. He directed the IO to produce the detained suspect before a magistrate and ordered him to produce the case record and original police station register on Saturday (today).

IO Bashir said that Zulfiqar had been arrested for writing cheques which were dishonoured. He said Zulifqar had leased some cars from the PICIC Commercial Bank’s Davis Road Branch. He said the bank had filed a complaint when the cheques were dishonoured.

A member of the Lawyer’s Bar Association told The Express Tribune that if found guilty, Advocate Dogar would be charged under Sections 420, 468, 471 and 419 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 476 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In that case, he said, the lawyer might be imprisoned for as long as seven years.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2011.