‘No second FIR can be lodged on same subject’

ISLAMABAD: “In any manner whatsoever, no second FIR can be registered on the same subject as per a verdict announced by a full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018,” advocate Rizwan Abbasi said on Monday.

Abbasi is a public prosecutor in four cases two against Imran Khan, one against Shahbaz Gill and one against Azam Swati. When contacted to know the legal standing of a second FIR sought by the PTI leadership, he said: “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is not just giving names but is implicating institutions safeguarding the country, something if acceded would please the forces working against Pakistan.”

Abbasi said the purpose of an FIR was to set the state machinery into action pertaining to criminal investigations. “Prior to 2018, there was a concept of registering multiple FIRs like in the case of Mir Murtaza Bhutto. In his case, three FIRs were registered.

He said so far as the Wazirabad incident was concerned, one FIR had already been registered. All the aggrieved parties might bring their stances through statements under Section 161 CrPC and those could be made part of the main FIR already registered with the confessional statement of the culprit arrested from the crime scene. He said it was not understandable why the PTI wanted to lodge the second FIR when its purpose could be resolved if it produced tangible evidence and record its version under Section 161 CrPC.