KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Saturday granted interim pre-arrest bail to two suspects booked for allegedly inciting violence and assaulting policemen to prevent arrest of a prayer leader, who allegedly violated the government ban on Friday prayer congregations.

Police booked and arrested Rahim Dad Qadri, imam at Jamia Masjid Ghousia in Liaquatabad No 7, for allegedly allowing people to of fer Friday prayer in the mosque despite a three-hour ban imposed by the provincial government to avoid the spread of coronavirus on April 3.

Several others, including mosque administration members, were also booked for inciting worshipers to violence and assaulting policemen to prevent arrest of the prayer leader.

On Saturday, suspects Mohammad AyubQureshi and Syed Nasir appeared before the ATC-X judge, who is conducting trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison.

They both moved applications through their defence counsel, who submitted that the applicants were booked in the present case with others and wanted to join investigation, but apprehended their arrest by the police. The court was asked, therefore, to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicants to enable them to join investigation.

After hearing arguments from the parties, the judge granted interim bail before arrest to the two applicants against a surety bond of Rs100,000 each.

The bail pleas were fixed for April 13 for confirmation of the interim bail or otherwise.

The judge also issued a notice to the investigating officer of the case and the state prosecutor to appear on the next date of hearing with the case file.

Last week, the administrative judge ofthe antiterrorism court had remanded prayer leader Rahim Dad Qadri with six other suspects in police custody for interrogation and investigation till April 14.

According to the prosecution, the prayer leader and members of the mosque administration had allegedly allowed a large number of people to enter the mosque and offer prayer despite a three-hour complete ban imposed by the Sindh government in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19, thus they exposed people to enhanced risksofgetunginfected.

It was further alleged that after the policemen tried to stop the prayer leader and others, they allegedly incited the worshipers, who allegedly assaulted the policemen wounding three of them. The enraged mob also resorted to violence, damaging some vehicles in the area, he added.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the law on behalf of the state at the Liaquatabad police station.