Chief Justice Minallah observed during the hearing that the reply to the show-cause notice appeared to be “justifying” contempt of judiciary and showed “no remorse or regret”.
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court ruled on Thursday that it will indict former prime minister Imran Khan on charges of contempt of court after judges rejected his explanation and regrets for comments he made about a magistrate.
A five-member bench of Islamabad High Court headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Babar Sattar took up the contempt proceedings against Khan following his speech at a public rally in Islamabad last month.
During a Pakistan Tehreek –e –Insaf rally in Islamabad on August 20, Khan had taken exception to additional district and sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved his aide Shahbaz Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the Islamabad police.
The PTI chief said she should “prepare herself as the action would be taken against her.” Gill was arrested on charges of treason.
Hours after the speech, Khan was booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening police, judiciary, and other state institutions.
After going through the response and hearing arguments by lawyers, the court reserved its judgment whether to proceed with the contempt case or drop it. It took a brief break during which the judges discussed the matter. The court reconvened to announce that Khan would be formally indicted after two weeks — on September 22.
“Imran Khan’s response was not satisfactory,” the Chief Justice Minallah was quoted as saying.
Chief Justice Minallah observed during the hearing that the reply to the show-cause notice appeared to be “justifying” contempt of judiciary and showed “no remorse or regret”.
Earlier Khan expressed “deep regret” over his provocative remarks against a session judge but fell short of tendering an unconditional apology in contempt of court case.
Last week, the Court gave the PTI chief another chance to submit a “well-considered” response in the contempt proceedings.
In his first written response, Khan had denied threatening the judge, offering to take his words back if they were “inappropriate.”
In the supplementary reply, Khan stated that the remarks were “unintentional and not meant to be directed towards the lady judge for whom he has a lot of respect”.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
