LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday allowed police six-day custody of Gullu Butt, a middle-aged man who gained notoriety by smashing cars during the June 17 clashes between Tahirul Qadri’s supporters and the police
The Faisal Town police produced Butt in the ATC and sought his custody for 14 days, arguing that they needed to recover from Butt a pistol and the club he had used to smash the vehicles. Butt’s counsel said police had inserted Section 7 of Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) in the FIR due to political influence. He said when Butt had already been on a 14-day judicial remand how could he be sent on a six-day physical remand. However, the court ordered handing over Butt to police custody for six days.
Separately, a judicial magistrate dismissed a bail petition by Butt after learning that the FIR included Section 7 of ATA.
On Monday, the counsel for the individuals whose vehicles were damaged by Butt had argued that the magistrate could not entertain the petition in view of inclusion of Section 7 ATA in the FIR. He had said only an ATC judge could hear the petition. The magistrate had summoned police record after Butt’s counsel claimed that police had deleted the ATA provision from the FIR.
On Tuesday, after verifying that Section 7 ATA was invoked in the FIR, the magistrate dismissed the bail plea.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2014.