Suspects in Bajwa leaks case say forced to give statement

Judicial magistrate orders SHO to submit challan till next hearing

ISLAMABAD:

Three individuals accused of leaking the data of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family have alleged that they were “forced” to record a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

They requested the judicial magistrate to record their statement again as the previous statement had their thumbprints “forcibly affixed”.

Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir ordered the station house officer (SHO) to submit the challan till the next hearing.

On behalf of the accused Arshad Ali Qureshi, lawyer Sardar Taimur Aslam appeared before the court.

The court has written in its order that Aslam said that the two-day physical remand of the accused was handed over on December 22.

According to him, after the statement was recorded before the executive magistrate, the accused were not brought to the court again on January 6.

According to the court, when the first accused were presented, they said that they wanted to record their statement.

The accused said that their statement was forcefully taken, and their signatures were forcibly affixed with thumbs, the order noted.

The court wrote in its order that the challan report of Section 173 had not been submitted to the previous court, and the SHO should submit the challan by February 3 or else come forward and explain.