Eid with family: 66 per cent more bail pleas filed last week

Prisoners accuse police of demanding bribes to allow them<br /> visitation rights during Eid holidays.

LAHORE: District courts in the city are reported to have received 66 per cent more bail applications than they usually do, in the last week of Ramazan, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Apparently, more than 5,000 bail petitions were filed in the Cantt, Model Town and Lower Mall courts in the last week compared to nearly 3,000 that are submitted every week.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, some of the judges said they preferred granting bail to the accused detained for bailable offences.

Prisoners accused some police officials of demanding bribe to let them meet their relatives on Eid holidays. Some of them said police had not produced them in courts after they refused to bribe them.

Amanat Ali, one of the prisoners, said police did not produce him in Model Town courts after he refused to bribe them.

Ilyas Ahmad, another prisoner, said police had not produced him in the Cannt court for a bail hearing.

Javed Ali said police had implicated him in a drug case but he had been granted bail.

“I am very happy. I will now celebrate Eid with my family. I will take my loved ones to shopping,” Ali told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2014.