LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Friday cancelled the bail granted to Adnan Sanaullah, the prime suspect in a gang rape of a 14-year-old girl.
Justice Shahid Hameed Dar passed the orders, while allowing an appeal filed by the Punjab Prosecution Department against the grant of bail to the accused by a sessions court.
The Punjab Prosecution Department submitted that a sessions court had granted the bail to Adnan Sanaullah after the victim girl submitted an affidavit in favour of the suspect. The department submitted that the affidavit filed by the girl was a result of pressure exerted on her family by the suspects.
Whereas, it said that the victim girl, in her first statement before a judicial magistrate, had maintained that Adnan Sanaullah was the prime suspect of the gang rape.
The court was requested to declare the affidavit submitted by the victim null and void and cancel the bail granted to the suspect.
During the course of hearing, Punjab Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad submitted that the accused failed to appear before the court despite issuance of arrest warrants.
He pleaded with the court to allow the appeal and cancel the bail granted to the accused. The court, agreeing with the arguments of the prosecution, cancelled the bail of the accused.
Racecourse police had arrested prime suspect Adnan Sanaullah and his accomplices Abdul Majid, Muhammad Umar, Ameer Ahmad, Haris, Bilawal, Imran Shahid and Qamar Zaman on charges of abducting a teenage girl and subjecting her to gang rape.
Separately, LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah Friday disposed of petitions filed by two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) challenging the ban on their functioning after the government withdrew the impugned orders.
During the hearing on Friday, law officers of the federal and the Punjab governments informed the court that all the restraining orders issued by the authorities concerned had been withdrawn.
The chief justice had already suspended the impugned orders, and as interim relief had allowed both the NGOs to resume operations.
Bushra Khalid of the WISE and Muhammad Tehseen of the South Asia Partnership of Pakistan (SAP-PK) had moved the petitions.
Bushra Khaliq had challenged a circular issued by Punjab Industries, Commerce and Investment Department in light of recommendations of the Home Department. The petitioner said that the authorities had directed the WISE to stop working after accusing it of being involved in anti-state activities.
Similarly, Muhammad Tehseen of the SAP-PK had filed the petition against the ban imposed on the NGO.
