IHC indicts Islamabad DC, 3 others for contempt over PTI leaders’ detention – Pakistan
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday indicted capital Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon and three others for contempt in a case pertaining to the extended detention of PTI leaders Shehryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar beneath the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance.
Justice Babar Sattar presided over the listening to throughout which the court docket additionally indicted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) operations Jamil Zafar, Superintendent of Police (SP) Farooq Buttar and Margalla Station House Officer (SHO) Nasir Manzoor.
The growth comes a day after the IHC stripped Islamabad’s district Justice of the Peace of his powers to detain suspects beneath the MPO whereas listening to the identical case.
The PTI leaders had been held by the police in reference to the May 9 violence, with Afridi first arrested on May 16 and Gulzar taken into custody on August 9.
On August 16, the IHC had allowed Afridi and Gulzar to be launched and determined to indict the DC and SSP for contempt after deeming their responses to the court docket as “unsatisfactory”.
A day previous to this, the IHC had additionally issued present-trigger notices to town police chief, chief commissioner and different police officers for “criminal contempt of court for abuse of authority to obstruct dispensation of justice and cause diversion to the course of justice”.
During at this time’s proceedings, DC Memon furnished an unconditional apology and urged the court docket to not indict him. The DC and the three different officers denied the cost after they had been indicted, with SSP Zafar looking for time to defend himself.
At the outset of the listening to, Advocate General Ayaz Shaukat introduced his arguments towards indicting the officers. He urged the IHC to not indict them because the “officers have furnished an unconditional apology”.
“How can we not indict them? The matter of contempt of court was under way here yet you issued an MPO order,” Justice Sattar remarked.
Addressing the officers, Justice Sattar mentioned, “If you’re sentenced, you may be despatched to jail on the most.
“It is a six-month sentence. You may also live in jail and see how those who you send to jail live there,” he remarked.
At this, the DC replied, “The aim of this [detention] order was not to violate the court order at all.” He then furnished an unconditional apology to the court docket, which was rejected.
Subsequently, DC Memon’s indictment order was learn out aloud and he was indicted.
Then, the proceedings to indict SSP Zafar had been initiated.
Justice Sattar learn out aloud the SSP’s indictment order and he was charged with the offence, which he denied. At this, the IHC requested him if he wished to defend himself, for which he sought extra time from the court docket.
Similarly, SP Buttar and SHO Manzoor had been additionally indicted — with them denying the fees as properly — and the listening to was adjourned.
MPO detentions
On July 31, Afridi was granted bail by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench but was picked up a few days later by the Rawalpindi police soon after his release from Adiala jail.
A petition was subsequently filed by his lawyer in the IHC calling for Afridi’s release and for the MPO order to be set aside.
Meanwhile, Gulzar was “allegedly” abducted by the Islamabad police on August 9. A petition was later filed by her mother in the IHC on the grounds of illegal arrest and violation of Articles 4, 9, 10A and 14 of the Constitution, calling for the police to produce her daughter in court.
