Bail plea of Perween Rahman murder accused rejected

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An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday rejected a bail application filed by one of the men accused of murdering social activist Perween Rahman on March 13, 2013.Perween was the director of the Orangi Pilot Project, a development programme for low-income neighbourhoods in Orangi Town. She was killed in a drive-by shooting near the Banaras Flyover, a few minutes’ drive from her office.Five suspects — namely Amjad Hussain; Ahmed Khan, alias Pappu Kashmiri; Ayaz Shamzai, alias Ayaz Swati; Abdul Raheem Swati and his son Imran Swati — are facing the murder trial.The ATC-XIII judge dismissed Imran’s bail application on Tuesday. In the previous hearing, the court had reserved its order after listening to the arguments by the prosecution and the defence.The defence counsel had contended that his client was languishing in jail due to the prolonging of the trial because of the delaying tactics played by his counterpart, the lawyer for the complainant.He had cited the Singh High Court’s December 2018 order and said that according to it, the trial should have been completed within two months.The complainant’s lawyer had opposed the plea, contending that it was the second bail application by the accused on the same grounds made in the previous one, and so it should be denied because of that. He added that though the accused had challenged the previous order in the high court, he had later withdrawn from it.Referring to the superior court’s judgment, he had said that in order to seek reconsideration over a matter, such as bail, the plaintiff should state different reasons than those put down earlier. He had pleaded that the court should dismiss the plea. The court has fixed March 25 as the date for the next hearing.The FIR of the murder case was registered under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, at the Peerabad police station.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2SXRRM4
The News International - Karachi