ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court deferred for a day State Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry’s indictment for contempt.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan had decided to frame charges against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader during a hearing of the case, based on the court’s notice, on March 8.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Chaudhry pleaded the bench to hear his plea before framing charges.
Justice Ejaz remarked that the defendant could plead his case later. “We don’t want to waste more time,” he remarked further.
Counsel for Chaudhry Kamran Murtaza argued that there were precedents of several court judegments when the bench had shown leniency in such cases.
Justice Maqbool Baqar observed that the matter was not of dishonouring an individual but an institution.
However, the hearing was adjourned for a day after the counsel informed the bench that his client had to attend a funeral.
The court provided Chaudhry with a copy of the charge-sheet and would frame the charges today (Thursday).
On February 24, the minister had requested the court to withdraw the case, stating that scandalising the court or doing anything that tends to bring the court into ‘hatred, ridicule or contempt’ is ‘not even the last thing on the respondent’s mind.’
“Whatever has been said might have been taken into account without relevance to the context due to media reporting,” Chaudhry had written in his initial response.
The apex court had initiated contempt proceedings against Chaudhry on account of “derogatory and contemptuous speeches/statements” with regard to the court, according to a notification issued on February 2.
Published in Daily Times, March 15th 2018.
