The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has disposed of a writ petition seeking pre-arrest bail for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s nephew Hassan Khan Niaza, noting that the petitioner will have to appear in the court if he wants to get the relief.
A division bench of the PHC took up the writ petition, filed by Hassan’s father Hafeez Ullah Khan Niazi.
The petitioner had requested the court to grant pre-arrest bail to Hassan while also directing the authorities to provide him details about the first information reports (FIRs) registered against Imran’s nephew in various police stations across the country.
The counsel for Hafeez Ullah Khan Niazi as well as provincial Advocate General Amir Javed and Assistant Advocate General Barrister Yaseen Raza appeared before the court.
The petition said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal government was trying to harass Hassan by registering FIRs against him in different police stations.
It said Hassan was first arrested on March 20 by the Islamabad police when he was going to Islamabad's judicial complex in a fake case.
When a court ordered police to release him, Hassan was handed over to the Balochistan Police on the pretext that an FIR had also been registered against him in the province as well.
The petition said Hassan was later handed over to the Punjab Police, which had also registered a case against him. It said Hassan has been booked under section 302, 324, 188, 427, 290, 291, 147, 149, 353, 184 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
It said Hassan is being victimized as he is an active member of the PTI and has been participating in the PTI’s protests against the “illegal and unconstitutional” acts of the government.
The petition claimed that the government is also harassing Hassan and therefore he cannot appear in the court in person. The petitioner requested the court to grant his son a pre-arrest bail in all cases while also providing him the details of the various FIRs registered against Hassan.
It said Hassan will appear before a court in Nowshera on April 19 and requested the court to direct the provincial government not to arrest him.
The advocate general, however, said relatives of an accused person who is alive and who has already been given relief in other cases cannot seek bail on behalf of that person. Such an accused has to appear in court in order to get a bail, he said.
“Section 498 is very clear in this regard. If the accused is given a bail in absentia, other accused will also seek similar relief,” he added. The bench later disposed of the petition stating that Hassan Khan Niazi will have to appear in the court in order to get a pre-arrest bail.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2023.
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