Plea against Fawad Chaudhry's arrest dismissed

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday rejected a plea against senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry’s arrest observing that the arrest is “not illegal”, ARY News reported.

Fawad Chaudhry, who was arrested today after registration of FIR against him in Islamabad’s Kohsar police station, was presented in the court in the evening, where Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh dismissed the plea filed by PTI challenging his arrest by saying that earlier it was a habeas corpus case but now that the FIR is registered, the arrest doesn’t falll in the category of habeas corpus.

Fawad Chaudhry was arrested after an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official registered a case against him in Islamabad for threatening ECP officials and their families.

PTI later filed a plea through their counsel Ahmed Pansota advocate challenging his arrest on the pretext that Chaudhry wasn’t even informed about the reason of his arrest when taken into custody.

Earlier in the day, Fawad Chaudhry was presented before the court of judicial magistrate Rana Mudassir in Lahore Cantt by the Islamabad police in tight security to seek a transitory remand.

At the outset of the hearing, the lawyers of Fawad Chaudhry objected to handcuffing the former minister. During the hearing, police and lawyers of Chaudhry exchanged hot words.

Chaudhry also said he is unaware of what charges he has been arrested by Islamabad police, adding that he is a top lawyer and a former minister and should be treated with respect.