On Tuesday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad granted relief to PTI founder Imran Khan in two different cases about the vandalism during the March 2022 long march on the former prime minister’s plea seeking acquittal.
Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi accepted Khan’s petitions and acquitted him in cases registered at Islamabad’s Lohi Bhair and Sahala police stations.
At the outset of the hearing, Khan’s lawyer, Advocate Naeem Panjotha, argued that the vandalism, as per the case, took place at his client’s behest.
“Several cases were registered in a single day; PTI’s founder was [framed] in the same role,” he further argued.
He added that neither a notification nor the party was informed regarding enforcing Section 144. The lawyer maintained that the plaintiff is the Station House Officer, with no jurisdiction to register the case. “There are no witness statements in the cases filed against the PTI founder,” he further argued.
The judicial magistrate asked the counsel if Khan had been acquitted in cases before, responding to which he said: “PTI founder had been acquitted in several cases even earlier.”
Following the arguments by the former premier’s counsel, the court reserved the verdict, which was announced later.
