Riots against ‘Innocence of Muslims’: Anti-Terrorism Court releases 21 more suspects

Court rejects charge sheets on grounds that there was no connecting evidence.

KARACHI: A day after the Anti-Terrorism Court III ordered the release of 43 men after finding lack of evidence against them, the charge sheets presented by the Preedy and Nabi Bux police stations against 21 suspects were also rejected.

The men had been arrested for their alleged role in the September 21 riots against the anti-Islam film.

The court rejected the charge sheets on the grounds that there was no connecting evidence against the accused men in custody, the CCTV footage does not have images of the accused and no one had seen the men setting fire to property or throwing stones.

The prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, said that in these circumstances the charge sheets against the accused were unwarranted. The investigating officers were directed to submit a report under section 497 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which was given to the court on Thursday. The court agreed with the findings and released the 21 men in custody, 13 of which had been detained by the Preedy police station and the rest by the Nabi Bux police. They were sent to jail on October 5 after the period of their custody in the police stations expired.

According to section 497 (2), if it appears to an officer or court that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the accused has committed a non-bailable offence but there are sufficient grounds for further inquiry, then the accused shall be released on bail or at the discretion of an officer or the court.

The law further states that the court or officer releasing a person must submit their reasons in writing.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.