The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday suspended an anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) order recalling the post-arrest bail of two suspects in a terrorism and explosive substance case, saying the suspects would be deemed to be on post-arrest bail.
The interim order came on a criminal revision application filed by Sarmad Ali Mirani and Ghaniullah Chandio, who are allegedly associated with the banned Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA), against the ATC order that recalled the post-arrest bail granted to them by the ATC incharge judge.
The applicants’ counsels Haseeb Jamali, Amir Nawaz Warraich and others said the impugned order is illegal and without jurisdiction, and cannot be sustainable under the law. The counsels said the court has no jurisdiction to cancel the bail of the applicants, as this jurisdiction rests with the high court, which can consider the correctness, legality and propriety of the bail granting order.
They said that no cogent reasons or grounds have been assigned by the court for the cancellation of the post-arrest bail earlier granted by the ATC incharge judge. An SHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput said that the points raised require consideration. The court issued notices to the Sindh prosecutor general and others, telling them to file their comments on December 15. The bench said the applicants in the meantime would be deemed to be on post-arrest bail in terms of the November 27 order issued by the ATC incharge judge.
