IHC dismisses Haleem's 'frivolous' bail plea, slaps Rs5,000 fine

Court observes PTI leader 'concealed' earlier bail; tells him to move SHC

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) refused to grant protective bail on Wednesday to Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh to attend the budget session of the Sindh Assembly.

In its remarks, the high court said it could not interfere in the Sindh High Court's (SHC) domain and asked Sheikh to approach the respective high court for the bail.

IHC CJ Athar Minallah said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader had already been granted a three-week bail by this court, adding that the lawmaker should have used this time period to file a bail plea in the SHC.

In his bail petition, the PTI leader said that the government wanted to arrest him in fake cases to stop him from attending the budget session.

IHC order

In its brief order, the IHC CJ wrote that the petitioner sought a “blanket order” for his protection as he did not place on record a copy of the criminal case registered against him.

“He is rather seeking a blanket order to protect him against arrest in order to enable him to surrender before a court of competent jurisdiction in the province of Sindh,” the order said, adding that Sheikh also failed to disclose that he had been granted bail by this court last month.

According to the order, the petitioner was earlier granted protective bail vide order, dated May 20, and the bail was valid till June 6. “This crucial fact has not been disclosed by the petitioner in his memorandum of the petition.”

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“Moreover, the court is bereft of territorial jurisdiction to grant blanket protective bail in favour of the petitioner,” the order said, adding that the PTI leader had an opportunity to “surrender himself before the court of competent jurisdiction or in case his fundamental rights were threatened, then to approach a constitutional court vested with territorial jurisdiction”.

It said the non-disclosure of the bail already granted to Sheikh by this court in his petition did not entitle him to equitable relief nor the prayer can be granted for want of territorial jurisdiction.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on the PTI MPA for submitting a “frivolous” petition and non-disclosure of relief already granted by the IHC.

Last month, the Sindh police had booked the PTI leader in a case pertaining to land-grabbing. Police had also raided his home to arrest him but the PTI MPA was not present at his residence. However, the police had detained an employee of Haleem and took him to the station.