Judge recuses himself from hearing bail plea in Azeri woman rape case

Additional District & Sessions Judge Rafaqat Ali Gondal has recused himself from the bail plea of Ahmed Tanveer, a key suspect in the rape case of an Azeri woman, and referred the matter to the Lahore High Court for further proceedings. Ahmed Tanveer's counsel, Advocate Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, had sought exemption for his client from personal appearance before the court, citing that the suspect's interim bail expired on October 27 and he was currently in jail for a 14-day identification parade in connection with another case.

The judge informed the counsel that he had prepared a reference of the matter and forwarded it to the high court for further action, without naming any specific case. The incident has been linked to allegations of bribery by the suspect's wealthy family to the victim in exchange for withdrawing her allegations, which were already recorded under Section 164.

Brief written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.