Don’t guess a verdict till written order issued, says LHC
Lahore – Staff Reporter:
A decision on whether bail should be granted or not to PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif can only be made after knowing all the facts, the Lahore High Court said during the Opposition leader in the National Assembly’s bail hearing on Wednesday.
A three-member bench of the LHC, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, and comprising Justice Aalia Neelum and Justice Shahbaz Rizvi, heard the bail case, in which Shahbaz’s lawyer Azam Nazeer Tarar appeared before the court.
In a strange turn of events, Shahbaz was not released by jail authorities on bail, despite having supposedly been cleared for bail by court.
His release had been delayed owing to the absence of a signature by one of the judges of the two-member bench that heard the proceedings in relation to a case filed by the National Accountability Bureau in which Shahbaz has been accused of laundering money owning assets beyond known sources of income.
The matter then went forward to the LHC chief justice, who appointed a full bench to hear the case.
Shahbaz was taken into custody by NAB on September 28, 2020.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Tarar argued he had not seen a verdict being reversed after three days in his 27 years of advocacy.
To this, the court said that one should never tell a client the outcome till they see the verdict.
Tarar said the court granted bail, but the decision was reversed.
The court said that one should not make any guesses [about the verdict] till a written order comes. “This is a lesson for you,” the court told Shahbaz’s lawyer.
Responding to the court’s remarks, Tarar said “we are learning from the court every day”. He argued that the court should consider both decisions and expressed the fear that the case may not be heard again.
“It is important for us to know all the facts of the case. Only then can we decide whether to grant bail or not,” the court said.
Later, the hearing was adjourned till tomorrow (Thursday).