LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan’s pre-arrest bail was confirmed by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday in a case regarding the hiding of information and evidence about the death of a PTI worker, Zille Shah, in a traffic accident.
Strong demonstrations broke out in Lahore after the postmortem report revealed that PTI employee Ali Bilal, known as Zille Shah, had 26 marks on his body when he died during the party’s rally on March 8. The party had stated that while in police custody, he had allegedly been tortured to death.
Imran Khan had also expressed his outrage and alleged that the unarmed innocent worker had been killed in police custody.
However, on March 11, Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr. Usman Anwar shared the findings of an investigating committee stating that the PTI worker’s death happened in a traffic accident.
The officials showed videos of the car and the two men who drove the PTI employee to the hospital, but they could not produce any video that showed him being struck by a vehicle while walking along the road, which would have supported their claim.
On March 15, Kamran Khan, the managing director of Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA), stated that police had looked at approximately 50 CCTV cameras that had been erected outside the Mian Mir overhead bridge, where Zille Shah was taken up on March 8 by a black automobile, by both the authority and the Lahore Cantonment.
On March 15, Kamran Khan, the Managing Director of Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA), noted that police had looked at around 50 CCTV cameras of Lahore Cantonment installed in the surroundings of the Mian Mir overhead bridge from where he was taken by a black vehicle on March 8.
Kamran Khan had told Dawn, “One out of around 50 CCTV footage, which was related to the road accident of Zille Shah is still missing.”
Last week, The LHC granted bail to Khan in the case until today as he joined the investigation and recorded his statement with the police. Barrister Salman Safdar legal counsel of Khan appeared in court today.
Three prosecutors were present when the hearing began, according to Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun. He inquired of the government’s attorney about the case’s connection between Imran and the FIR.
He said, “Leave aside the fact of who is the culprit and focus only on whether their bail can be canceled.”
After hearing the arguments, the LHC confirmed Khan’s pre-arrest bail in this case.
Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, separately filed a petition in LHC requesting details of cases registered against her.
A copy of the petition is available with Dawn.com, named the interior ministry, the Punjab government, and police chiefs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, and Islamabad as respondents.
The petition claimed that Bushra Bibi had learned of numerous “false and frivolous” FIRs against her through “other sources” or the media that had been filed at various police stations across the nation.
The plea said that the copies of those FIRs are not given to the petitioner, which are large numbers, and the petitioner does not know the numbers.”
Bushra Bibi’s petition stated that she was concerned about being detained “under the garb of false FIRs” and added that she was a law-abiding citizen who had never been charged with a crime. Additionally, it claimed that FIRs were filed against the petitioner “just for political victimization” with the “instruction and connivance” of the federal government.
The petition requested the court to direct the respondents to give the details of the cases registered against her and to stop them from “harassing” her. It also requested the court to give her protective bail until the petition was decided.
