A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Tuesday granted bail to nine men allegedly involved in the Joseph Colony tragedy.
The court directed the accused to submit surety bonds of Rs 100,000 each to avail the bail. The division bench comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Abdul Sami Khan granted bail to Lal Khan, Aman Ullah Khan, Farhan, Sarfraz Khan, Anwar, Qasim, Sudheer Khan, Imran Butt and Muhammad Imran on their petitions filed for the purpose.
Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel Aftab Ahmad Bajwa pointed out that three accused out of nine were nominated in the FIR. He contended that the accused were innocent as a substantial proof of their involvement in the incident had not been established and the police had also failed to recover any weapon from them.
He submitted that the court had granted bail to many nominated accused and others in the matter but it had rejected the bail plea of the accused. Therefore the petitioners should also be granted bail considering the principal of consistency, he added.
However, Punjab Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad opposed the petitioners’ counsel contentions and pleaded the court to dismiss bail applications as the accused were identified during a parade for the purpose.
The bench agreeing with the petitioners’ counsel’s arguments granted bail to the accused and ordered to submit surety bonds for the purpose.
