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Court acquits 74 PTI activists in 2023 violence case citing lack of evidence
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Crime & Justice

Court acquits 74 PTI activists in 2023 violence case citing lack of evidence

From Dawn · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A Peshawar court acquitted 74 activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in a 2023 violence case.
  • The judge ruled that the prosecution's case relied on unsubstantiated allegations lacking evidence to connect the accused to the offenses.
  • The case stemmed from protests against the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, with the FIR alleging conspiracy and rioting.

In a significant development for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a Peshawar court has acquitted 74 party activists in a case related to violence that occurred on May 10, 2023. Additional Sessions Judge Faraz Ahmad's decision to acquit the accused under Section 247-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure underscores a critical failure in the prosecution's case.

no probability of the accused persons being convicted of the offence, and continuation of the trial would be nothing but a futile exercise

— Additional Sessions Judge Faraz AhmadRuling on the acquittal application, citing the lack of evidence and the futility of continuing the trial.

The judge's ruling was unequivocal: the prosecution's allegations were "bald and unsubstantiated," lacking any direct, circumstantial, or legally admissible evidence to link the activists to the alleged crimes. This finding suggests a potential miscarriage of justice, where individuals were subjected to a trial based on flimsy grounds. The court deemed the continuation of the trial a "futile exercise" that would only result in "unnecessary harassment and abuse of the process of the court."

The case registered at Faqirabad police station of Peshawar was one of the multiple cases registered across the country from May 9 to 11, 2023, against PTI leaders and workers over violence protests against the arrest of ex-premier Imran Khan.

— Article ContextProviding background on the origin of the case following protests against Imran Khan's arrest.

The case, registered at the Faqirabad police station, was one of several filed across Pakistan following the arrest of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan. The FIR accused a large group of PTI leaders and workers of intentional murder, criminal conspiracy, and rioting, claiming indiscriminate firing led to the deaths of two individuals, Javed and Bilal. However, the defense, led by Mohammad Adeel Butt, argued that the accused were not named in the original FIR and no eyewitnesses identified them. Crucially, the legal heirs of the deceased Bilal testified that they had neither charged the suspects nor wished to pursue the case, further weakening the prosecution's stance. The court's observation that the implication of the accused surfaced only during the investigation, without any test identification parade, further bolsters the acquittal.

It is manifest from the record that the accused persons were nominated in the FIR nor apprehended at the spot, and their implication surfaced only during the course of investigation. No private witness, injured person or eyewitness has come forward to nominate or identify them

— Additional Sessions Judge Faraz AhmadDetailing the lack of evidence directly linking the accused to the crime.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dawn in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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