Rs 5mn fine: LHC dismisses Hanfi Abbasi's plea for transfer of appeal

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday dismissed an application, filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, for transfer of his appeal from Rawalpindi bench to Lahore bench against imposition of Rs 5 million fine on him in a defamation case.

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan heard the application.

A counsel for Hanif Abbasi argued before the court that a sessions court of Rawalpindi had ordered Hanif Abbasi to pay Rs 5 million as damages while allowing a defamation suit, filed by the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust.

He submitted that his client challenged the verdict before the LHC Rawalpindi bench, but two different benches had refused to hear the matter due to personal reasons so far.

He pleaded with the court for issuing directions for transfer of the appeal from Rawalpindi to Lahore bench keeping in view the circumstances.

However, Trust's counsel Rabia Bajwa opposed the plea, while raising a law point that if an appeal was filed before a particular bench then only that could hear the same.

The chief justice, after hearing arguments of the parties, dismissed the application and held that the LHC Rawalpindi bench would hear the matter.

In 2020, a sessions court of Rawalpindi fined PML-N leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi Rs5,000,000 in a defamation suit, filed by the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust.

The Trust had filed the suit on May 3, 2012, after Hanif Abbasi levelled baseless allegations against its board members in a TV talk show. The Trust chief executive officer had filed a suit of Rs100 million against Abbasi.