Khawaja brothers bail case: NAB plea seeks SC review of damning remarks in ruling

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court regarding Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Salman Rafiq’s bail case, in which the top court’s ruling observed the anti-graft body’s “complete disregard for human dignity as guaranteed by the Constitution”.

The review petition, filed by the NAB’s Additional Prosecutor General requested that the plea be accepted and the impugned order dated 20-7-2020 should be reviewed with all consequences, “especially paragraphs No 18 to 48 and 56 to 70 should be expunged”. The petition stated that “some remarks made in the judgment would affect the proceedings of the trial court. “It would be difficult for the trial court to decide due to these remarks,” it added.

The Supreme Court had made serious remarks and observations against the NAB in the said paragraph. The apex court, in its observations commencing from paras 37 to 38 has elaborated the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice which emphasise the constitutional role of the Supreme Court. “It is however reiterated for the sake of clarity that the power of arrest was never employed by the petitioner-bureau to extract benefit or cause harassment for purpose of decision of the case,” the petition states. It added: “The courts were independent, the accused and the prosecution were just two parties, the courts adjudicate in a bipartisan manner giving neither party any advantage or disadvantage, therefore grant or refusal of bail was subject to incriminating evidence, thus portraying a picture contrary to facts by the accused was wholly unjustified, therefore incarceration on refusal of bail was no highhandedness by the NAB.”