SC seeks record of Gill’s investigation

Lawyer tells bench case pertains to ‘custodial torture'

ISLAMABAD:

The top court on Friday issued a notice to the federation on the pleas filed against PTI leader Shehbaz Gill’s physical remand and also told the investigators of the case to bring the record of the probe.

A three-judge bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel was hearing the pleas.

Justice Ahsan noted that the case pertained to remand and Gill had been released on bail.
Justice Mazahar inquired what the case was about.

Gill’s counsel Salman Safdar told the bench that the case pertained to “custodial torture”.
Justice Ahsan inquired whether or not the transcript of the treason charge was available and he wanted to know what Gill had done.

A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court had declared that the 13 sections Gill faced were not applicable.
Justice Mandokhel asked the lawyer whether taking remand was illegal or granting it was not the authority of the court.

Justice Mazahar noted that the whole case was made on the basis of an interview.

Shoaib Shaheen, another lawyer representing Gill, told the court that this interview was aired on a private TV channel and the call was made through a landline number.

The lawyer later read the transcript of the interview in the court.
Justice Mazahar noted that the allegation was that Gill had incited junior officers of the army to disobey orders of their top command.

The judge asked the lawyer to tell him did criminal laws apply to the Supreme Court. The lawyer replied in the affirmative. The lawyer’s reply irked Justice Mazahar, who told him that he did not even know that the Supreme Court was not mentioned in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and only the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was applicable.

The judge inquired what the polive had to recover from Gill. “Did the police recover the tongue that he used in the interview?” he added.

Justice Mazahar observed that recovery had nothing to do with the case.
On this, the lawyer said the police had claimed that they recovered a pistol from Gill’s possession.

He added that the police wanted to recover the mobile phone of Gill’s driver amd were seeking his remand for this purpose. The lawyer also claimed that his client was brutally tortured during detention.

Justice Mazahar replied that Gill would have to approach the relevant forum for his allegation of custodial torture.

“What’s preventing him from doing so?” the judge asked. The lawyer told the judge that nobody listened to them.

Justice Mandokhel inquired was nobody tortured by the police during the PTI government.
To this, lawyer Safdar replied that incidents of police violence rarely come to light and the most controversial remand in the country’s history was given to Gill.

Justice Mazahar observed that the judge wrote in the order that there were marks of torture on Gill's body.

“Will the judge appear as a witness in the torture case?” he asked. During the hearing, Safdar was reprimanded by the court for not answering its questions.

Justice Mazahar inquired why the suspect was produced before the magistrate after 14 days under judicial remand.

The lawyer replied that the suspect was presented for trial. Justice Mazahar noted that the magistrate was the guarantor of the suspect's rights and the lawyer did not even know that much.

Safdar told the court that a strategic media cell was behind Gill's case. Justice Mazahar inquired that the case was based on a media cell.

Later, the court summoned the investigating officers along with the record to review it. It also issued a notice to the government and postponed further hearing of the case for an indefinite period.