Fake Degree: LHC orders release of Rizwan Gill

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended a three-year prison sentence given to former Punjab Assembly member Rizwan Gill in a fake degree case and directed his release on bail. A division bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood passed the orders on an appeal. The appellant submitted that a trial court had convicted him relying on verbal evidence. He said the allegations of fake degree against him had not been proved, but the court had gone ahead sentenced him. He requested the bench to suspend his sentence and order his release on bail. The bench accepted his post-arrest bail application and directed him to furnish Rs200,000 surety bonds to secure his release from Sargodha jail. Gill was elected in 2008 on a PML-N ticket and was disqualified on the charge of holding a fake degree in 2010.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2013.