SHC grants protective bail to GDA leaders in home minister’s house burning case

The Sindh High Court on Friday granted protective bail to Grand Democratic Alliance leaders in an arson case pertaining to an arson attack in which Home Minister Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar’s house was set on fire in Naushero Feroz.

Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi and Masroo Khan Jatoi had approached the court for obtaining protective bail in a case registered against them under arson and anti-terrorism charges. The applicants’ counsel, Irshad Ahmed Jatoi, submitted in the applications that the applicants were falsely implicated in the case due to political rivalry between the parties.

He said that local police were mixed up with the complainant due to an old enmity over political rivalry and wanted to drag the applicants into the case to take revenge from the applicants.

The counsel said that at the time of the incident, the applicants were not present at the crime scene and police were bent upon arresting them in the case at the behest of the ruling political party.

He said the applicants had nothing to do with the allegations levelled against them and they were law-abiding citizens who believed in democracy and the constitution. The counsel submitted that the applicants were ready to surrender before the trial court to prove their innocence; however, they apprehended their immediate arrest in the case prior to appearing before the court. The counsel requested the court to grant them protective bail so that they could appear before the trial court and defend themselves in the case.

A high court division bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, without touching the merits of the case, granted the applicants protective bail for 15 days so that they could surrender before the trial court.