ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been asked to summon and prosecute Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, Shoaib Shaheen and Raoof Hassan, under Article 204 of the Constitution and Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, for continuously scandalising and ridiculing the judiciary.
Advocate Mian Dawood, on Tuesday, filed a contempt petition against Shoaib and Raoof, saying both of them are continuously scandalising and ridiculing Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) Aamer Farooq and others in an organised campaign on social media, electronic media and print media in order to spread disappointment in people regarding their trust in the judiciary.
The petitioner contended that taking advantage of inaction by the judiciary against the PTI leaders; i.e., respondents No 1 and 2, Senator Faisal Vawda and MNA Mustafa Kamal have also held press conferences against the judiciary and the judges in the same manner and style as the PTI leaders have been doing for more than the last two years.
He appreciated the Supreme Court’s prompt and rightly took suo moto against Senator Vawda and MNA Kamal over their press conferences and issued show cause notices to them.
He stated that the right to freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution, admittedly, is not absolute, unlimited or unfettered but subject to reasonable restriction imposed by the Constitution and Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, and one such restriction so imposed is in relation to the contempt of court.
The petitioner said that the Supreme Court while interpreting Articles 19 and 204 have put restrictions on every citizen by observing that every citizen should not violate the law while exercising his fundamental rights of freedom of speech.
Dawood submitted that both the PTI leaders scandalise and ridicule the judiciary when they do not get decisions in their favour from the courts. It is a matter of record that whenever any court gives a decision against the PTI in any case, the official media accounts of the PTI and its leader start threatening campaigns against that judge or court by way of discussing their conduct and personal lives.
Such campaigns are deliberate moves as it continues for more than for the last two years against the judiciary as an institution and against the judges. He submitted that a contempt case against Imran Khan has been pending since May 2022 in the Supreme Court.
The inaction against contemnors such as Imran Khan by the Supreme Court gives an impression to the public that the PTI leaders have been given a licence to ridicule and scandalise the judges and the superior courts.
The petitioner has attached the TV talk shows, press conferences and social media clips to show the mindset of the contemnors against the judiciary. The transcripts show that the contemnors are acting in a manner to prejudice the integrity and independence of the judiciary as whole as they are using derogatory and defamatory remarks continuously in the public media platforms.
Dawood said that it is the duty of the court to maintain and strengthen the confidence of the public in general and the litigants in the court and to vindicate the honour and dignity of the court to ensure the administration of justice is not diminished or weakened.
The gist of the press conferences and talk shows of the contemnors as mentioned in transcripts is prejudicial to the integrity and independence of the judiciary of Pakistan and surely detrimental to the safe administration of justice, besides tending to bring the Supreme Court and IHC and their judges into disrespect, defame, and ridicule, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024