Court acquits 74 PTI activists in May 2023 violence case
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PESHAWAR: As many as 74 PTI activists have been acquitted in a case regarding violence on May 10, 2023, which led to the deaths of two people. Additional sessions judge Faraz Ahmad on Monday accepted an application filed by the defence for acquittal of the accused persons under section 247-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the court to acquit an accused at any stage of the proceedings where there is no probability of conviction. The judge ruled that the entire case of the prosecution, insofar as the present accused persons were concerned, rests upon bald and unsubstantiated allegations, unsupported by any direct, circumstantial, or legally admissible evidence connecting them with the commission of the offence. He observed the court was satisfied that there exists “no probability of the accused persons being convicted of the offence, and continuation of the trial would be nothing but a futile exercise” resulting only in unnecessary harassment and abuse of the process of the court. Case was based on ‘unsubstantiated allegations’, judge rules 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. SHO Waris Khan was complainant in the FIR registered on May 10 on charges of intentional murder, hatching criminal conspiracy and rioting. He claimed he received information that 250 to 300 people along with PTI’s local leadership resorted to indiscriminate firing resulting in firearm injuries to two persons, namely Javed and Bilal, who later died in hospital. During the investigation, the police nominated and charged the 74 suspects, including PTI’s Peshawar chapter president and Senate by-election candidate, Irfan Saleem. The PTI leadership denied the charges, alleging both the deceased persons were party workers killed by police. During the proceedings, the legal heirs o