LHC orders immediate release of Haleem Adil Shiekh

LHC orders immediate release of Haleem Adil Shiekh

 LAHORE (Dunya News) - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday has declared the arrest of Sindh Assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh illegal and ordered his immediate release.

Justice Ali Baqir Najafi issued a five-page written verdict regarding the arrest of Haleem Adil in which he has termed his arrest illegal and ordered to release him immediately. The court has also approved his protective bail up to 18th July and ruled that no letter was produced in court regarding the arrest of Haleem Sheikh.

According to the verdict issued by Justice Ali Baqir Najafi, it is a fact that the case against Haleem Adil Sheikh was registered at 7:30 and no notification was submitted before the court to appoint an investigating officer to investigate the case by the anti-corruption.

While the records were submitted by the Anti-corruption showed that no authority has issued an arrest warrant for Haleem Adil’s arrest.

The verdict further stated that anti-corruption said that Haleem Adil Sheikh was arrested at noon today while Haleem said in his statement that he was arrested at 3am.

There is no doubt that a case was registered against the PTI leader but the arrest is illegal and the court has full authority to release anyone arrested illegal, he remarked. It is pertinent to mention that Haleem Adil was arrested from a hotel in Lahore last night over the charges of forging government land documents and was produced before the court today where the public prosecutor presented the case papers.

Earlier today, Haleem Adil was produced before the court where the public prosecutor presented the case papers.

On this, Justice Ali Baqir Najafi inquired if there was any paper to show that it was the investigation team that had come to arrest him. "I do not see any document in the provided papers,” he added.

Justice Ali Baqir asked Haleem Adil if he wanted to say something, to which the Haleem replied that "police had arrested me last evening and took me first to Gulberg police station and then to the CIA because I was raising my voice in the assembly but I am ready to face any inquiry."

The court asked Haleem Adil when he wanted to go to Sindh, to which he replied that “I wanted to celebrate Eid with the children”.

Justice Najafi remarked that “it should not be happen like this, give me the file and I will pronounce the verdict after some time.”

Earlier in the hearing, Justice Najafi asked the Sub-Inspector Anti-Corruption on the basis of which law the arrest was made while the arrest was made by the investigating officer who was not here.

On this, Sub-Inspector Anti-Corruption said that “the accused is in our custody.”

Justice Ali Baqir Najafi asked when did you make the arrest?

To which the sub-inspector replied that “we made the arrest at 12 noon and approached the magistrate for transit remand but the magistrate delayed due to the petition of the high court.