LAHORE   -   The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday granted bail to Asif Hashmi, former Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) chairman, in a record tampering case. Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi passed the orders while hearing a post-arrest bail petition filed by Asif Hashmi. The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested his client on charges of tampering with ETPB record.

He argued that the agency registered the case on political grounds as all allegations were baseless. He pleaded with the court for granting benefit of bail to his client. However, FIA’s prosecutor opposed the plea, saying that the case was not registered on political grounds as the agency had solid evidence against the accused. He pleaded with the court for dismissing the bail application. The court, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, granted post-arrest bail to Asif Hashmi. It is pertinent to mention here that the National Accountability Bureau and FIA had filed various cases against Asif Hashmi who served as ETPB chairman between 2008 and 2013.

LHC orders to remove Section 7 of ATA from Chung case

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered to remove Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 in a case of allegedly gang-raping a woman and her teenaged daughter. The division bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by accused Munsib, challenging inclusion of Section 7 of ATA in the case. The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the offences narrated in the FIR did not attract the provision of the ATA. He submitted that the police wrongly inserted Section 7 of the ATA in the FIR due to pressure. He pleaded with the bench for removing the section. However, a prosecutor opposed the plea, saying that the accused committed a heinous act and the Section 7 of the ATA was justly inserted. He submitted that the accused committed rape with the victims on gun point, besides threatening them of murder.

He pleaded with the bench to dismiss the petition.However, the bench, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, ordered to remove Section 7 of the ATA from the case and its transfer to a sessions court. The Chung Police had registered a rape case against the two men - Umar Farooq and Munsib - on the woman’s complaint under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The accused gang-raped woman and her daughter in LDA Avenue area on August 22, 2021.