Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted protective bail to lawyer Iman Mazari, who represents cases related to enforced disappearances, and her husband Hadi Ali Chatha, restraining Islamabad police from arresting them in a registered case.
The hearing was conducted by Justice Azam Khan of the Islamabad High Court, who took up the petition filed by Iman Mazari and her husband seeking protective bail in a case registered at Kohsar Police Station.
Appearing on behalf of the petitioners, Senator Kamran Murtaza presented arguments in support of the application. He told the court that this was the first time a woman had spent an entire night within the premises of the Islamabad High Court in order to seek bail.
He argued that if Islamabad police had already registered a case against his clients, they should have arrested them earlier. He questioned why police authorities chose to pursue arrest only after the Islamabad High Court nullified the arrest warrants issued by a lower court in a separate case related to a controversial tweet.
Addressing the court, Kamran Murtaza urged that it should be ensured that no arrests take place from within the court premises. He stated that his clients were not anti-state and possessed the same constitutional rights as the judge of the court or any other Pakistani citizen.
He further argued that the case had been registered last year and that his clients had regularly appeared before various courts during this period. He added that police could have arrested them at any point earlier if they intended to do so.
Kamran Murtaza requested the court to grant protective bail to his clients and to direct police not to arrest them unless any case against them was formally presented before the court.
In his remarks, Justice Azam Khan stated that the court could only issue orders within the scope of the case presently before it.
Subsequently, the court approved protective bail for Iman Mazari and her husband against surety bonds worth Rs10,000 each.
A notable number of lawyers were present in the courtroom during the hearing.
