Islamabad: Arrested anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan is being moved between courts by the Punjab Police since his arrest on Tuesday.
On Friday, he was rushed to Lahore to be produced before a judicial magistrate. Imran Riaz is facing charges of abetment of mutiny and criticism of the state institutions.
A staunch critic of the Sharif government, Imran Riaz Khan is booked at different police stations of the province and over a dozen First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against him.
Earlier Thursday, a civil judge in Attock district of Punjab had set him free in an early morning verdict and dismissed the treason case against him ordering his immediate release.
However, the relief proved to be short-lived as a team of Chakwal police was waiting outside the courtroom to arrest him.
Ironically, the Chakwal police arrested Imran Riaz despite the fact that the judge had rejected their application to hand over the anchorperson to their custody and chided the officials for not “adhering to legal procedures.”
‘Voluntary’ arrest
“This court cannot hand over Imran Riaz to Chakwal police,” the judge said in his verdict. But as Riaz walked out of the courtroom after his release, he “voluntarily” handed himself over to the waiting police party which subsequently moved him to a police station in Chakwal.
The ruling that ordered the release of the journalist was reserved by Judge Yasir Tanvir at 3 a.m. and announced at 4 a.m.
The case in hand is not a case of sufficient evidence which connects the accused Imran Riaz with the commission of the offence as embodied in the crime report, therefore, the accused Imran Riaz Khan is hereby discharged from this case, the judge had stated.
No proof of commission of mutiny
The order further said that after hearing and seeing the whole video footage it is found that the accused present in the court did not use any derogatory remarks or any other word which can be said that the accused committed the offences levelled in the FIR.
Police, after adopting legal procedures, can investigate the matter further but strictly in accordance with the law, it added.
