The district court on Saturday rejected the bail plea filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (r) Safdar in a ‘provocative’ speech case.
Judicial Magistrate Salman Asif heard the petition of the husband of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz. During the hearing, party’s lawyer Farhad Ali Shah took the stand that the police does not have authority to register the case. He stated that even if a provocative statement was given, a notification will have to be written as per law, whereas Captain (r) Safdar was not notified about it. He claimed that his client was arrested in a false lawsuit to prevent him from following his wife’s cases.
The prosecution’s lawyer, in turn, read out the first information report (FIR) before the court. He argued that Safdar, during a court appearance for bail in another case, sat in the bar room and made remarks against the government. He informed the court that further investigation into the matter is required and requested the court to reject Safdar’s request for bail. The court, ruling in the prosecution’s favour, dismissed Safdar’s bail application and sent him back to prison.
Safdar was arrested on the night of October 21 while he was returning to Lahore from Bhera. Police had registered a case against him on October 11 for speaking against state institutions.
