The Supreme Court on Thursday indicted real estate tycoon Malik Riaz over his June 12 press conference in which he reportedly hurled allegations at Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, scandalising and ridiculing the higher judiciary. The Supreme Court issued show-cause notice to the real estate tycoon on June 13. A two-judge bench of the Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed resumed the hearing of contempt proceedings against Riaz on Thursday.
Making the intra-court appeal in the instant matter as the basis for his argument Dr Abdul Basit, the counsel for Riaz, urged the bench to halt the proceedings in the case till a final decision on the appeal was made. He further said that Contempt of Court Act (CoCA) 2012 was in place the day an intra-court appeal was filed and soon after the filing of the appeal, the show-cause notice and contempt of court hearing was adjourned. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan remarked that the CoCA 2012 had been struck down and proceedings could be resumed under the prevailing contempt of court law. He added that CoCA 2012 should be treated as if it was never enacted.
Denying the contempt charges against his client, Dr Basit termed 'ambiguous', saying the text of the charge did not contain any contemptuous word against judiciary. However, the bench said that the court had all the relevant records that indicated that contempt had been committed by Riaz.
The court appointed Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Irfan Qadir prosecutor in the case. The AGP contended that he did not watch the press conference. He questioned how could he deduce that Riaz had ridiculed judiciary when he had not watched that controversial press conference. After issuing notice to Riaz in response to a petition of Ashraf Gujjar the bench adjourned the hearing of case till August 29. The petitioner has sought the placement of Riaz's name on ECL.