Contempt of court: IHC slaps jail terms on Islamabad DC, SSP

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday sentenced federal capital’s Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon, Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Jameel Zafar and Station House Officer (SHO) Nasir Manzoor of Margalla Police Station for contempt of court. The court, however, suspended the sentences for 30 days to allow the convicts to file an intra-court appeal with a division bench.

Justice Babar Sattar sentenced the officials for issuing orders to detain Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shehryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance. The judge ordered sending the officials to jail in case of rejection of their appeals before a double bench. The court sentenced Islamabad DC to six months in prison, SSP to four months in prison and SHO for two months. All three of them have also been fined for Rs100,000 each.

The court also directed sending the order to the prime minister. The order stated, “Let a copy of this judgment be sent to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, to investigate whether Deputy Commissioners across Pakistan, who continued to issue detention orders under MPO in breach of the law and Constitution and judicial orders were acting in an organized manner on the basis of illegal orders, and if so, take appropriate remedial action to ensure that the authority of the state to be exercised through chosen representatives of people, continues to be exercised according to the Constitution and the law.”

On September 7, 2023, the IHC indicted DC Memon and three police officials including SSP Zafar in a contempt case about PTI leaders’ detention. On August 16, the IHC suspended the detention orders of the PTI leaders and ordered their immediate release. Both were held by law enforcement for their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots, which were triggered after the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan earlier this year.

DC Memon and SSP Zafar pleaded not guilty to the charges and also apologised unconditionally. However, the IHC turned down their plea and ordered the authorities to place DC Memon’s name on the no-fly list for skipping proceedings of the case. He was also issued a show-cause notice and was asked to reply for being absent from the proceedings.