LAHORE  - The Lahore High Court suspended one year imprisonment earlier awarded to PML-N former MNA Mudassar Qayyum Nahra by trail court in a bogus degree case and ordered police to release him on bail here on Monday.
A division bench headed by Justice Shahid Hameed Dar and comprising Mazhar Iqbal Sindhu placed this order on an appeal challenging the verdict of a trail court.  During the course of proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel argued that his client was implicated in the case while he had nothing to do with the allegations leveled against him. The petitioner’s counsel said that the trail court passed its order without considering the massive differences in the evidences.
He pleaded the court to declare the trail court’s verdict as null and void and acquit the accused from charges. However, the law officer said that the trail court order was based on facts and he tried to convince the court to uphold the sentence.
The bench, however, suspended the imprisonment and ordered to release the accused on bail against submission of surety bond to the tune of Rs100000. The court also admitted the appeal for regular hearing. Former MNA was sent to jail after Gujranwala District and Sessions Judge Tariq Iftikhar had sentenced him to one-year imprisonment in a bogus degree case on February 28.
Nahra contested the 2007 general elections for an NA-100 seat as an independent candidate and defeated PML-Q’s Rana Bilal Ijaz, son of former MNA Rana Ijaz Ahmad, with a huge margin. Later, he expressed his confidence in the leadership of the PML-N. His electoral rival challenged his graduation degree in an election tribunal of the Lahore High Court.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh on June 21, 2010 declared him as disqualified and ordered fresh election in the constituency.
Nahra filed an appeal in the Supreme Court and a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry upheld the election tribunal’s decision. The court also ordered registration of a case against him.
Meanwhile, Election Commission of Pakistan had directed Civil Lines police to register a case against him on August 11, 2012 and also submitted charge-sheet in the sessions court.
The D&SJ recorded the statements of several witnesses during a year and a half and finally awarded him one year imprisonment.