LAHORE: Model Town Courts Judicial Magistrate Aneeq Choudhary on Friday sent US consulate employee Raymond Allen Davis to jail on judicial remand till February 25.
Earlier, prosecution produced the accused before court after the police wrapped up a double murder investigation during the 14-day physical remand into the shootings of two Pakistani nationals, Faizan and Faheem at Qurtaba Chowk on January 27. A case has been registered against Davis in Lyyton Road Police Station for the killings, which he claims was an act in self-defence.
Davis was brought in court premises in Armoured Personal Carrier (APC) after the completion of his 14-day physical remand. The situation dramatised when this APC sounded the court premises of Davis’s arrival. After a few moments police produced the accused in Model Town Court to get his judicial remand.
Police contingents were deployed around and inside the courts’ premises early in the morning, and the area had been cordoned off. No one was allowed to enter court premises during the case hearing other than police high-ups and court staff. Police had closed all courts gates except one, since morning when the bomb disposal squad scanned the premises. During the hearing, counsel of the accused Hassam Qadir suggested the court for in camera proceedings. He also raised the point that Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity so he may be treated as a diplomat.
After the court proceedings, Punjab Additional Prosecutor General Abdus Samad told media that the judge has also ordered Pakistani government to clarify whether or not Raymond Allen Davis had the diplomatic immunity or not, as the US says he does. The court will resume the proceeding on February 25.
