Court rejects police plea, sends Fawad on judicial remand

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday rejected a police plea for further extension in the physical remand of PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry and sent him on a 14-day judicial one to jail in a case regarding alleged incitement of violence against the Election Commission of Pakistan officials.

Fawad was arrested by the police from outside his residence in Lahore on Jan 25 after a first information report was registered against him at Islamabad’s Kohsar police station on ECP secretary’s complaint that the former federal minister threatened the chief election commissioner and the ECP members.

Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja head the case against the PTI leader.

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Fawad was produced in court on Monday upon expiry of the two-day physical remand granted to the police. However, the PTI leader was brought to the court three-and-a-half hours late at 3pm as the police cited road blockages as the reason behind failing to present Fawad at 11:30am.

During the proceedings, Advocate Faisal Chaudhry, the brother of Fawad, requested his client’s handcuffs be taken off, and the court accepted the plea.

State Prosecutor Adnan Ali requested the court to extend Fawad’s physical remand. Judicial Magistrate Raja asked the prosecutor about the importance of conducting a photogrammetric test in the case.

Adnan replied, “The purpose of a photogrammetric test is to identify a person’s actual personality.”

He also requested for access to Fawad’s electronic gadgets.

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However, ECP’s lawyer Saad Hassan did not request an extension in the physical remand, clarifying: “We only needed to conduct Fawad Chaudhry’s photogrammetric test, which has been conducted.”

Advocate Babar Awan said that the prosecution had made a joke out of Fawad’s case as he “is still standing by his statement”.

“I don’t know who the prosecution wants to please. I don’t know which laptop the prosecution wants to obtain.”

Fawad apprised the court that the police had special instructions to take him in a police van to Lahore. It was also cold. “I am on the streets for the last two days.” Yesterday, they took me to Lahore. “The whole day we kept roaming and returned at night. Then the police took me to Lahore. From there, they took me to Kala Shah Kako, then Lahore, then again Kala Shah Kako, then brought “me back here from Lahore to Islamabad”. “I have slept for hardly 14 hours in six days. They are mentally torturing me.”

After listening to both the parties, Judicial Magistrate Raja sent Fawad on a judicial remand, rejecting the prosecution’s plea to extend his physical remand for a third time.