The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan within an hour.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah heard Imran Khan’s plea against his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
During the course of proceedings, Advocate Hamid Khan counsel for Imran Khan said that his client had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for pre-arrest bail.
He said that Imran was in the process of getting his biometrics done when he was arrested. Rangers misbehaved with Imran Khan and arrested him, he alleged.
He said that the PTI chief was arrested by Rangers personnel breaking down doors and windows.
The chief justice said that according to the court records, the case had not been fixed for hearing.
Hamid Khan said that the appeal could not be filed without completing the biometric process.
Justice Athar asked how could anyone be denied the right to justice?
Chief Justice Bandial said that there was a certain respect for the courts.
He recalled that the court had reversed the arrest in past when NAB had arrested a suspect from the Supreme Court’s parking lot.
He said that the NAB had assured the court that no similar action would be taken again, after which the SC spared nine officers of the bureau from contempt proceedings.
He asked Hamid Khan about the number of Rangers personnel who had carried out the arrest of Imran Khan.
The counsel responded that around 100 rangers personnel entered court premises to arrest Imran Khan.
Justice Minallah asked if the right of access to justice could be waived.
He asked if it would not have been appropriate to take permission from the NAB registrar.
He also asked why the NAB took the law into its own hands.
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