Court grants bail to Capt (retd) Safdar in hate speech case

LAHORE (92 News) – A local court on Wednesday granted bail to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar in a case related to hate speech on Wednesday. A local court announced the reserved verdict and granted bail to the PML-N leader. The court directed him to submit a surety bond of Rs 200,000. The court had also reserved its verdict on an application seeking physical remand of the PML-N leader for investigation yesterday. A government lawyer moved the application on behalf of the state challenging the Oct 22 ruling of a judicial magistrate who turned down a plea for physical remand of the son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif. On Saturday, Duty Magistrate Salman Asif rejected the bail plea of Capt (retd) Safdar in the provocative speech case. After hearing the arguments, the court had reserved the verdict. The counsel for Capt (retd) Safdar said that the police have no powers to register the case. “The government will write to the police if it wants to arrest an accused under the law,” he said. He contended that the police cannot arrest a person making an anti-government speech directly. He stated that his client has been arrested in a fake case to stop him from pursuing the cases of his wife. “The law gives a citizen the right to protest. Section 16 MPO cannot be applied in the case,” he said. Police arrested PML-N leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain Safdar in Lahore over hate speech against state institution on late Monday night. According to the reports, Capt Safdar was taken into custody from Ravi Tool Plaza. Capt Safdar was arrested for allegedly delivering a provocative speech. It was reported that Car Safdar delivered a provocative speech on appearance of Maryam Nawaz on accountability court and the police registered a case against him on October 13. Capt Safdar was arrested soon after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was shifted to Lahore’s Services Hospital after his platelet level in his blood dropped critically low. Meanwhile, he will be presented before anti-terrorism court (ATC) today.