Joseph Colony attack: LHC reserves verdict on appeal against bail for 87

The counsel for the suspects argued police had implicated his clients in the case only to show progress.

LAHORE:

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday reserved the decision on an appeal by the government seeking cancellation of bail granted by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) to 87 suspects in the March 2013 attack and torching of houses in Joseph Colony, a predominantly Christian neighbourhood in the provincial capital.

The Prosecution Department had filed the appeal, arguing that the ATC had released the suspects ignoring many important facts of the tragic incident where over a hundred houses of Christian citizens had been torched. The department urged the court to withdraw the bail granted to the suspects by the ATC. The counsel for the suspects argued that the police had implicated his clients in the case only to show that they had made some progress in the case because they had been under immense pressure from the Supreme Court and the government. The counsel said that the police had failed to produce any evidence in the ATC against the suspects. He asked the court to dismiss the government’s appeal.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2014.