Court accepts PTI leader’s plea against identical cases

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday partially accepted the writ petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former minister Kamran Bangash seeking the annulment of the four identical cases against him.

A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice SM Attique Shah ordered the annulment of the cases registered against Kamran Bangash in Chitral and Lower Kohistan districts while restored the case in Tank.

Ali Zaman Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner told the court that Kamran Bangash had served as the provincial minister. He said that four cases were registered against his client on the charges of inciting the people to violence on May 9, last year. He said that identical cases were registered against Kamran Bangash in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Chitral and Kohistan.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim said the high court had delivered a judgement to this effect that an accused could not be charged in similar cases. His counsel said that similar charges were leveled against the accused in the different FIRs.

The bench ordered the quashing of the FIRs registered against the former provincial minister in Chitral and Lower Kohistan while the case in Tank was restored.

Talking to reporters, Kamran Bangash said that identical cases had been registered against him so he had filed the writ petition in the high court seeking the quashing of the similar FIRs against him. He said that he had got relief from the courts in all the cases. He alleged that he was made to lose the election, demanding that he should be issued the Form-45. Kamran Bangash said the nation had rejected the turncoats in the election. Demanding action against the district returning officers, he alleged that the DROs manipulated the election results.