The Supreme Court has ruled that the prosecution has yet to substantiate its allegation that PTI Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry was involved in a criminal conspiracy related to the events of May 9.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and comprising Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, issued a written order granting post-arrest bail to the incarcerated lawmaker.
The three-page order, written by Justice Afghan, granted bail to the PTI senator, who has been behind bars for the last two years.
"The allegation is yet to be proved by the prosecution at the trial. The prosecution has yet to explain the delay of three days in lodging FIR as well as delay of about one month for making the supplementary statement by the complainant," the ruling read.
The bench observed that, following arguments from both the petitioner's counsel and the Punjab special prosecutor, the case file showed Chaudhry had not been named in the original FIR (No. 103/2023), registered at Sarwar Road police station in Lahore on May 12, 2023.
"The petitioner was implicated by the complainant in his supplementary statement dated 10th June 2023 on the basis of tweets/audio/video clips on social media."
The court further noted that the admissibility, relevancy and evidentiary value of the supplementary statement of the complainant as well as the alleged tweets, audio and video clips on social media are yet to be determined at the trial, which has not yet concluded despite the lapse of almost two years.
The court observed that, according to settled principles of law, bail cannot be withheld as a mere punishment.
It further stated that, based on a tentative assessment of the material currently available on record, the case against the petitioner falls within the ambit of further inquiry.
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