Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah warned PTI Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan that threatening a district judge is a more serious offense than threatening a Supreme Court judge.
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.
Read more: SC rejects govt’s contempt of court plea against Imran Khan
According to the details, a five-judge larger bench of the IHC resumed the hearing of the contempt of court case against the PTI chairman. During today’s hearing, Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that the court had already explained that Imran Khan’s case is criminal contempt, which was “a very sensitive matter”, adding that the district court was a “red line” for the court.
“The offense is very serious which has not been realized,” remarked Justice Minallah.
آپ کو بار بار بتا رہے ہیں کہ یہ کتنا حساس معاملہ ہے، چیف جسٹس
معاملے کی حساسیت کو جانتے ہوئے ہی بار بار ندامت کا اظہار کررہے ہیں،
حامد خان ایڈووکیٹ— Siddique Jan (@SdqJaan) September 8, 2022
Contempt case against Imran Khan
During his speech at an Islamabad rally, Imran Khan threatened to file cases against Islamabad’s inspector general of police and deputy inspector general of police.
“We won’t spare you,” he warned.
Not holding back, the former premier had also taken exception to Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved his close aide Shahbaz Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the capital police, and said she should “prepare herself as action would be taken against her”.
On August 23, IHC issued a show-cause notice to Imran Khan after taking up contempt of court proceedings against him for allegedly threatening Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry.
The PTI chief submitted his reply to the IHC, wherein he expressed his willingness to “take back” his words if they were “regarded as inappropriate” and urged the IHC to discharge the show-cause notice issued to him and dispose of the contempt matter.
During the last hearing, Chief Justice Athar Minallah expressed disappointment over Imran Khan’s response to the IHC’s show-cause notice to him in the case and gave him another chance to submit a response.
Read more: IHC disappointed with Imran Khan’s response in contempt case