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Police officers walk past Pakistan’s Supreme Court building, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 6, 2022. REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court has rejected the pre-arrest bail application of an accused allegedly involved in the burning of his rivals’ house and animals.
During the hearing of the plea on Friday, a division bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan asked whether the complainant’s house and animals were actually set on fire.
A police officer responded that the house and the animals were indeed burned; However, no bullet casings were recovered from the scene. The plaintiff’s lawyer told the court that the accused, Amjad Ali, wanted to buy land from his clients and upon their refusal, set fire to their house and animals.
Justice Khan asked what the police’s undeclared investigations were aimed at. The police officer said that the accused had taken an oath on the Holy Quran during a jirga, claiming that he had not committed the act.
Justice Khan noted that if courts made decisions on the basis of oaths on the holy book, jails would have been emptied. “Verdicts based on such oaths are not part of the legal system and the police must gather appropriate evidence,” he noted. The court subsequently dismissed the pre-arrest bail application.
