A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday granted bail to former SHO Sadar police station Sialkot, Rana Muhammad Ilyas and six other policemen suspending their three-year sentence awarded by an anti-terrorism court in Sialkot lynching case.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Shahid Hameed Dar ordered to deposit two surety bonds of Rs 100,000 each for availing bail. Earlier, the petitioner's counsel arguing before the court submitted that the petitioner was innocent and wrongly convicted in the case.

He said that appellants were convicted under section 155(C) of Police Order 2002 and sentenced to three-year imprisonment and 50,000 fine. The counsel contended that the sentence was against the law and facts of the case as the trial court did not appraise the evidence in accordance with settled principles of the law.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner had already filed appeal in the Lahore High Court against the conviction and it was un-likely to be heard in the near future. Therefore, the appellants be granted bail in the case as the trial court awarded a short sentence to them, he pleaded.

However, the deputy prosecutor opposed the contentions submitted by the petitioner's counsel and pleaded the court to dismiss bail application. After hearing the arguments, the bench agreeing with the petitioners' counsel arguments granted bail to all the convicts.

The appellants besides SHO were ASI Muhammad Waris, Constables Akram, Tariq, Bashir, Mubarak Ali and Naseer Ahmad.

Earlier, an anti-terrorism court on September 20 announcing case verdict sentenced seven people to death, six to life in prison, and three-year term to all policemen including former DPO involved in the incident. It is pertinent to mention that a division bench of the LHC had already granted bail to former DPO Waqar Ahmad Chohan in the case.