ISLAMABAD - Islamabad High Court Monday granted one-day protective bail to former senator Faisal Raza Abidi in a case pertaining to use of defamatory language against Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.

A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard the petition of Abidi and granted him one-day protective bail while directing him to appear before the trial court in the matter.

It was September 21 when the capital police had registered a case against Faisal Raza Abidi for using derogatory language and levelling baseless allegations against government institutions.

The case was registered at Secretariat Police Station under PPC’s sections 505, 506 and Section 7 of ATA 1997 on a complaint lodged by Supreme Court Public Relations Officer Shahid Hussain Kamboyo. According to the FIR, in a video, which vent viral on social media, the accused used abusive, contemptuous and threatening language against state institutions. The former senator has been accused of levelling allegations against individuals holding the highest constitutional positions.

However, Abidi adopted in the petition that the allegations mentioned in the FIR were baseless as he had not committed any offence and he has been involved in the case due to grudge of the ‘high-ups’.

He added that he is innocent and had falsely been involved in the above matter due to grudge and annoyance. According to the petitioner, there is large number of police outside the court of ATC, where entry is subject to identification and search and as such, he would be arrested, if he went there for obtaining bail before arrest.

“If protective bail is not granted, the life and honour of the applicant shall suffer and applicant shall also lose his reputation in the eye of general public”, the petition stated.

Therefore, he prayed to the court to grant him protective bail for a period of 15 days to enable him to obtain certified copies of documents from the Supreme Court and other departments related to the case.