Court grants conditional bail to Fawad Ch in sedition case

Islamabad: A district and sessions court of Islamabad Wednesday approved the bail plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry, who was being prosecuted in a sedition case.

During the hearing today, Sessions Court Judge Faizan Geelani granted bail to Fawad Chaudhary, stipulating that "He (Fawad) must refrain from making any comments which he may later have to apologize for".

The judge then inquired about the meaning of the statement "People will drop them to their houses", to which Fawad’s counselor Babar Awan responded that it is an idiom, implying that they will return home. 

The court approved the bail against surety bonds of Rs20,000.

Fawad Chaudhary was arrested last week from his residence in Lahore after he was booked in a case regarding charges of threatening the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members and their families.

The Islamabad police conducted the raid in the wee hours and took him to a local court to seek his transitory remand to produce him before the relevant judicial magistrate in Islamabad. 

The court allowed his transitory remand and later the police took him to Islamabad, where they secured a two-physical remand of the PTI leader.

Later, Fawad was sent to jail on judicial remand but the decision of the judicial magistrate was overturned and he was handed over the police for further two days’ physical remand.