ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday stated that there was no option but to withdraw post-arrest bail application of Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz, adding that it was not possible to grant bail concession to the accused person on hardship grounds which were not taken before the high court.
The anti-graft body had arrested Hamza Shehbaz from the premises of Lahore High Court (LHC) during June 2019 on charges of money laundering and assets beyond means. His lawyers called up the LHC for bail concession, but their application was turned down.
Consequently, they moved the Supreme Court in April last year, urging the apex court to grant post-arrest bail.
However, the SC on Friday disposed of the matter after the counsel for Hamza withdrew the post-arrest bail application.
Resuming the hearing over post-arrest bail plea on Friday, a three-member bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahyah Afridi asked Amjad Pervaiz, the counsel for Hamza, whether he is intended to pursue the matter on merit or hardship grounds.
The counsel urged the court to grant the bail concession on hardship grounds, saying Hamza had been behind bars for more than a year now.
To this, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood asked how the top court can take up the matter on such grounds which were not taken before the high court.
Pervaiz contended that at that time the situation was totally different because there were no grounds for hardship at the time, adding no one can be indefinitely detained.
He further told the bench that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had yet to file reference against Hamza when he applied for post-arrest bail in the high court, adding charges against his client were for Rs7 billion whereas the reference has been filed for Rs530 million.
In this regard, Justice Yayha Afridi observed that it would be appropriate for the petitioner to approach the high court on the basis of the accountability court report.
After a brief hearing of the matter, the counsel for the accused person withdrew the post-arrest bail application to which the top court disposed of the case.
