Islamabad High Court has decided to indict Imran Khan in contempt of court case on Sept 22.
IHC termed the reply of Imran Khan unsatisfactory.
Imran Khan left the IHC after talking to the media.
It is pertinent to mention here that a contempt of court case has been lodged against Imran Khan for his controversial remarks about a female judge during the party’s rally in Islamabad on August 20.
After the hearing of the arguments, the court reserved the verdict and after a five-minute break, the bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangir, and Justice Babar Sattar gave the verdict.
When the court reserved the verdict, Imran Khan got up and asked the court that he wanted to speak. At this, the IHC CJ said that the court had heard his lawyers.
“I want to give my stance; the court can question me,” Khan said, but the court preferred to let it be and not listen to the PTI chairman.
During the proceedings, Justice Babar Sattar said that the leader [Imran Khan] did not express any regret for his derogatory remarks about a female judge and he was constantly justifying his action which is like a threat.
“How a political leader can say that he will take action against a judge while speaking at a public gathering,” asked the judge.
“There is a separate forum for an action against a judge but that’s not a public rally,” stated the judge.
[embedpost slug=”court-defers-indictment-of-shehbaz-hamza-as-acquittal-pleas-filed/”]
At this, Hamid Khan, Imran’s counsel, maintained that the PTI chair missed the word “legal” while saying he’ll take action against the judge.
“Legal action also translates into a complaint,” he added.
Earlier, at the beginning of the hearing, Imran Khan’s lawyer Hamid Khan commenced his arguments, saying that he agrees with the observation given by the court at the last hearing and wants to put precise requests before the court.
“We want to wind up this matter,” he said, informing the court that a detailed reply has been submitted.
The lawyer contended that the IHC referred to two verdicts of the Supreme Court, which were issued in the cases of Daniyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry.
“Imran Khan’s case doesn’t fall under these two verdicts. The two cases were totally different from that of Imran Khan,” he maintained.
At this, CJ Minallah remarked that there are three types of contempt of court, described in the Firdous Ashiq Awan case which was a matter of scandalising the court.
“There is civil contempt of court, the second is judicial contempt and the third criminal contempt,” he said.
During the proceedings, Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali said that Imran Khan was tried in a contempt court in 2014.
The same allegations were made against him and the same procedure was adopted, however, he was pardoned later. Imran Khan did not submit his affidavit in the case, the attorney general said, adding that his reply has no value.
Referring to his speeches in public rallies, Ausaf said that he named the female judge even in his party’s second public meeting.
Talking to journalists outside the IHC before the hearing, Imran Khan said if he were arrested, he would become more dangerous.
The PTI chairman added that the government had been planning to round him up for a long time,” Imran responded when a journalist asked if the government was planning to detain him.
When asked if he would tender an apology before the court today, Imran, on a lighter note, replied, “I will take NOC from you ahead of it”
