Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah warned PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday that threatening a district judge would be crossing a “red line” when it comes to the lower courts.
Threatening a district judge is a very bad thing to do: judge Minallah
His remarks came during the hearing of a contempt case lodged against the PTI chairman for his controversial remarks about a judge during a public rally in Islamabad on August 20.
Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, went to IHC under tight security to answer for his controversial comments about a female judge at the party’s rally in Islamabad on August 20. He was charged with contempt of court.
IHC has started hearing the contempt of court case against the PTI chairman again. This time, there are five judges on the bench.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah is in charge of the bench, which also includes Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, and Babar Sattar.
Imran Khan, who is the leader of the PTI, went to court in his own right.
Hearing today
At the start of the hearing, Imran Khan’s lawyer, Hamid Khan, said that he agreed with what the court said at the last hearing and that he wanted to make specific requests.
“We want to wrap up this case,” he told the court, telling them that a detailed answer had been sent.
The lawyer said that IHC’s decision was based on two decisions made by the Supreme Court in the cases of Daniyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry.
“The case of Imran Khan does not fit into either of these two decisions. Imran Khan’s case was very different from the other two,” he said.
At this, CJ Minallah said that there are three types of contempt of court, which were explained in the Firdous Ashiq Awan case, which was about embarrassing the court.
“Civil contempt of court is the first, judicial contempt is the second, and criminal contempt is the third,” he said.
“The crime is a very big deal.”
CJ didn’t like the answer that Imran Khan gave, so he asked him to explain his lack of knowledge.
“The crime is very bad, which hasn’t been understood,” said Justice Minallah, adding that they need only look at the law.
At this point, Hamid Khan said that they had figured it out, so they had written it into their answer.
The judge asked if their answer made sense in light of the Supreme Court’s decisions.
CJ said that no one can put pressure on the court
Hamid Khan defended his client by saying that Khan wrote in his answer that he respects both the district court and the highest court. He said that his client had said what he did because Shahbaz Gill had been tortured.
“I’ll be more dangerous if locked up,” Imran says
Imran Khan told reporters before he went into the IHC that he would become even more dangerous if he went to jail.
“The government has been planning to arrest me for a long time,” Imran told a reporter who asked if the government was planning to hold him.
When asked on a lighter note if he would apologize in court today, Imran said, “I will take NOC from you first.”
Imran, on the other hand, told reporters that he would talk to them after the hearing.
Imran Khan questions the authority of IHC
Hours before a five-judge larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was to resume hearing a contempt of court case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PTI chairman asked a court on Thursday morning for permission to submit written arguments in the case.
In his new appeal, Imran Khan said that Constitution says that the high court cannot act on its own. The reasons why the contempt case shouldn’t be heard should be written down.
