Gill moves SC against IHC for endorsing two-day physical remand

Says IHC 'seemingly failed' to protect his rights by remanding to police after noticing he had been tortured

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill challenged the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) order, endorsing his two-day custody to Islamabad police, in the Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday.

In a plea filed by lawyers Salman Safdar and Chaudhry Faisal Hussain, the petitioner requested the SC to set aside the IHC order.

The petition stated that the investigation in the case be declared illegal and unlawful for the prosecution and be set aside straightaway for being violative.

Terming Gill’s physical custody “unconstitutional on account of breach of fundamental rights of life and dignity of a person” the lawyers further asked the SC to discharge Gill.

The plea further asked the SC to declare the IHC’s order “illegal and unlawful” and stated that it was sheer disregard of Article 9 & 10-A of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973.

The petition further stated that the IHC had quite seemingly failed to protect the basic fundamental and human rights of the petitioner by remanding him to police custody after noticing that he had been subjected to torture.

The lawyers said in the petition that Gill was subjected to "the most humiliating and degrading violence in police custody". The petition further stated that "sufficient evidence was placed before the learned single bench all of which was disregarded by the Court".

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The petition stated that, “Record was presented by the Adiala Jail authorities which made it abundantly clear that the petitioner had bruises as well as bodily injuries when he was committed to Judicial. Therefore, the decision handed down by the learned Islamabad High Court is liable to be set aside for being violative of Article 9 and 10-A of the Constitutional of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

“By ignoring and overlooking the medical evidence of Custodial Torture while handing back the remand of the Petitioner to the local police authorities, the learned court has set a wrong precedence in the criminal jurisprudence of the country. The Learned High Court Indirectly has approved a very dangerous and alarming precedents giving an open hand license to police and investigation to bring back an accused from Judicial remand on flimsy and vague grounds and inflict physical abuse and torture,” read the petition.

It further stated: “The report of the medical board comprising senior doctors and specialists of the PIMS Hospitals who constituted to medically examine the Petitioner also validates that the Petitioner is suffering from various ailments and diseases. Unfortunately, the doctors deputed to examine the health of the Petitioner were pressurized to declare the Petitioner as medically fit; however, even then the report declared serious ailments being suffered by him.”

Earlier this week, an Islamabad court had granted police custody of Gill until August 24, after hearing the lawyers’ arguments in a plea against the 48-hour physical remand of PTI leader.

A local court in Islamabad later rejected the request by the Islamabad police for an extension in Gill's physical remand and sent the leader to prison on judicial remand.

Gill was arrested on August 9, after registration of a sedition case at the Kohsar police station of the federal capital over his controversial remarks against the military. He was produced before the judicial magistrate the next day and on August 12, he was sent to jail on judicial remand.

However, on August 12, the police challenged the magistrate's order to send Gill on judicial remand in the IHC, eventually acquiring the PTI leader's physical remand following the IHC ordering the judicial magistrate to hear the police's review appeal.