Suspects arrested over lion attack granted bail

A judicial magistrate on Saturday granted bail to two suspects in a case pertaining to the recent attack by a pet lion on a child in Gulberg.

Police presented the suspects, Saad and Roshan, before South Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Sarwar Solangi, seeking a 14-day physical remand for interrogation to arrest the owner of the lion, Umer.

The suspects were arrested after a video went viral on social media showing the wild animal attacking a child of 10 to 12 years in a street in Gulberg. The investigation officer (IO) of the case, Inspector Irshad Ali Korai, said Saad was a relative of the pet owner while Roshan was his private guard.

He said that physical custody of the suspects was required to interrogate them with regard to the whereabouts of the owner of the animal. The judge asked about the child, to which the IO said police were trying to trace him since his family had not come up to register the case and the FIR was lodged on the complaint of the state.

Meanwhile, the suspects through their counsel moved bail applications in the court, arguing that the offence mentioned in the FIR under the section 289 of the Pakistan Penal Code was bailable and did not fall under any prohibitory clause.

The counsel requested the magistrate to grant a post-arrest bail to the applicants and assured that his clients would not misuse their bail and abscond. After hearing the arguments, the judge granted post-arrest bail to both the suspects subject to furnishing a Rs10,000 surety amount each. They were also directed to cooperate in the investigations.