Islamabad (Web Desk): An Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday granted former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairmain Imran Khan interim bail in a case terror case filed against him for threatening Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry during a public rally.
According to details, the ATC accepted the bail plea of Imran Khan against a surety of Rs100,000 and stopped the police from arresting the PTI chief till September 1.
The ATC also issued notices to the police and petitioner.
The bail of the former premier bail will be reviewed now at the hearing on September 1.
Imran Khan appeared in the ATC in person where judge Raja Jawwad Abbas heard his plea.
The PTI chief appeared before the court in person amid tight security while a huge number of PTI supporters were present outside the court.
During the hearing, Khan's lawyer Babar Awan argued that his client had warned of an action against the female judge and not hurled threat of killing her.
He said that a magistrate was a complainant in the case as the three persons named by Imran Khan in his speech did not lodge any case.
After hearing the arguments, the judge barred the police from arresting Imran Khan and granted him bail in the case.
Imran Khan’s lawyers had moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for pre-arrest bail earlier this week and the court granted him protective bail until Thursday.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against the PTI chief on Sunday under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) regarding his comments at his Islamabad rally on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the IHC on Tuesday issued show-cause notice to Imran Khan and summoned him in his personal capacity on August 31 after initiating contempt of court proceedings against him for threatening Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry during a public rally.
As per the details, the show-cause notice was issued by a three-member bench, headed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and comprising Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
The bench was constituted on Monday after the decision to start contempt proceedings against Imran Khan was taken by Acting IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq during the hearing of a petition challenging incarcerated PTI member Shahbaz Gill’s police remand in a sedition case.
The court while summoning the PTI chief in personal capacity on August 31, forwarded the case to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), seeking inclusion of more judges in the bench.