Web Desk (LTN NEWS): On Friday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) put off making a decision on a request for Shahbaz Gill to get a medical exam. Meanwhile, a sessions court in the federal capital told the authorities to give the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader a second medical exam at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where he will stay until Monday.
The police filed a petition asking for the PTI leader to be physically held in Islamabad today. The sessions court heard the petition and ordered that he be kept at PIMS and given a second medical exam.
Sessions on top of that On Wednesday, Gill was given to the Islamabad police for a 48-hour physical hold by Judge Zeba Chaudhry. Now, the police wanted to keep him in jail for another eight days.
At Adiala jail, Gill said that the torture was making his health worse, which is something to keep in mind. He went to the PIMS Hospital for a medical checkup. For this, a board of five doctors was put together. Gill had been taken by ambulance to a ward.
Today, when Gill was brought into court, he started shouting that police had taken away his oxygen mask and begged to be given one. “They’ve been giving me injections until 2 a.m.; I have asthma and need oxygen very much,” he begged.
Read More: Shahbaz Gill moves to hospital: Health is satisfactory
Faisal Chaudhry, a lawyer for the PTI, was against the request for physical remand. He said that if physical remand is given, Shahbaz Gill’s life will be in danger.
Special Public Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued in favor of the physical remand plea by saying, “The accused’s health is not an issue. The investigating officer can do an emergency medical exam even without a court order.”
“It’s not written anywhere that someone can’t be held physically if they’re sick,” he said.
On the other hand, he pointed out that “even if the court orders physical remand, it is the job of the investigating officer to look after the accused’s health.”
The lawyer also said, “The jail doctor said the accused had no problems when he came to us and that the report was normal.”
Gill said the police did something wrong, but the capital police said he was lying to get out of the investigation against him.
IHC will decide later if the medical board’s case can be heard
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb was hearing a petition against Gill’s alleged torture that was filed in the IHC by former leaders of the ruling party, Asad Umer and Babar Awan. The petition asked for the creation of “a medical board made up of impartial doctors for a medical exam.”
The PTI leaders asked that the police not use pressure to get a confession from Gill. They pointed to reports in the media that Gill had been beaten while in police custody.
The petition also said that keeping Gill in police custody was done “solely” to “torture” him and that his physical and mental health was “not good,” which put his life in danger.
During today’s court proceedings, Justice Aurangzeb asked, “If there is a medical report, why isn’t there a medical board?”
“We want a fair medical board,” Babar Awan said in response. “The doctors on the medical board don’t know much about some diseases.”
“It could be any doctor, but doctors from all four provinces should be on a private medical board,” he said.
“Wouldn’t it be better to let the home secretary handle this?” asked the judge.
In response, Babar Awan made it clear that the request was for a board made up of “objective private doctors, not government doctors.” He also asked the court to “make sure that Shahbaz Gill’s life and basic rights are protected.”
Read More: Shahbaz Gill’s ECG report not normal: PIMS sources
“There were signs of torture on Shahbaz Gill when he was taken into custody and brought before the judge. Shahbaz Gill showed the judicial magistrate signs of police torture, and the magistrate gave Shahbaz Gill judicial remand after two days of physical remand, said Awan.
He also told the court that the federal government later filed an appeal to have the magistrate’s decision looked at again, but that the appeal was turned down. The federal government then went to the IHC, which gave police permission to keep Gill in custody for another two days.
Justice Aurangzeb then asked Awan how the current medical board was made. Awan replied that it was “made under the direction of a female judge” of the lower court who had given Gill’s remand.
The judge said, “I will give an order on this.”
“Even if someone is guilty of high treason, they can’t be tortured or hit in certain places,” Awan said.
Awan also said that the constitution and basic rights say, “You can’t touch anyone, no matter what the case is against them.”
“A professor at a university is being tortured to get him to say who asked him to do the crime,” he said.
After the arguments were over, the judge said, “Shahbaz Gill has asthma, so he should be checked.”
