Over 30 granted bail in May 9 cases

ATC orders applicants to furnish surety bonds

LAHORE:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to 31 suspects in the May 9 riots.

The court ordered the suspects to furnish surety bonds of Rs200,000 each to avail the relief of bail.

Duty Judge Arshad Javed heard the petitions and announced the verdict upon completion of arguments.

The hearing of 106 bail petitions was scheduled in the court, and proceedings on the remaining 75 applications were adjourned.

Those granted bail are Ahmir Rasheed, Ayesha Ali, Aalia Shahzad, Rehman Ali, Muhammad Jamal, Kamal Khan, Saif Khan, Syed Fahad, Syed Asghar, Naveed Gulzar, Mazhar Zubair, Waqas Ali, Ali Asad, Usman Ahmad, Muhammad Iman, Hashmat Ali, Shah Faisal, Muhammad Imtiaz, Rihan Khan, Abu Bakr, Muhammad Ashraf, Aziz Ahmad, Raza, Muhammad Arslan, Muhammad Shahzad, Muhammad Latif, Riaz, Muhammad Wajahat, Shah Din and Muhammad Aun.

Read 20 accused get bail in May 9 riots case

The Sarwar Road police had registered a case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders and workers on charges of attacking the Jinnah House during the riots last year.

The court also granted bail to PTI leader Aliya Hamza and activist Sanam Javed in a case of torching the Shadman Police Station.

The judge instructed the applicants to furnish surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The petitioners' counsel argued that his clients were accused of torching the police station during the May 9 riots but they had no involvement in the incident. He pleaded with the court to grant the bail.

However, the prosecution opposed the bail petitions, contending that both accused were part of an anti-state conspiracy and had engaged in vandalism.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2024.