Eleven Punjab University (PU) students accused of attacking the police, setting buses on fire and violating a ban on public assembly on The Mall have been granted bail.
The students were arrested on Friday during the Islami Jamiat Talaba’s protest over the non-arrest of the killers of Awais Aqeel, an IJT member who was shot dead on May 13.
Judicial Magistrate Rizwan Hanif Sheikh set bail at Rs10,000 each for Hafiz Abul Majid, Muhammad Usman, Umar Mujahid, Irshad Khan, Zubair Awan, Rana Zakria, Hassan, Saad and three others who were produced before him at the district courts on Saturday.
They are named in an FIR registered at Islampura police station under Sections 148 (rioting), 149 (collective responsibility for a riot), 186 (obstructing a public servant), 290 (public nuisance), 291 (repeated public nuisance), 324 (attempted murder), 337 F1 (ghayr jaifah, damihah), 337 L2 (causing hurt), 353 (use of criminal force on a public servant to deter them from doing their duty), 427 (mischief causing damage) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Judicial Magistrate Shahid Khokhar granted bail to the same students in a case registered under Sections 148, 149, 186, 188 (disobeying a public servant’s order), 290, 291, 324 (attempted murder), 353 and 427 of the PPC at Old Anarkali police station. The FIR is registered against 14 named students and 50-60 unidentified students.
Judicial Magistrate Irfan Basra dropped Section 324 from the offences against the accused during the bail hearing of another case against the 11 students registered at Islampura police station. The defence counsel contended that there was no grounds for charging them with attempted murder since no weapons had been seized at the protests or found on the accused.
According to the FIRs, the students violated Section 144 and Lahore High Court orders banning protests on The Mall and attacked police officials and burned their vehicles. The students were protesting against the killing of Aqeel, who was the IJT nazim at Hailey Law College. He was shot at least 11 times by five men riding on two motorbikes and armed with 0.30 bore pistols on May 13 at a fruit shop just outside a hostel. A murder and terrorism case has been lodged against Abrar Wattoo and Imran Tarar and three unidentified men.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2012.
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