Court dismisses PM’s plea for not hearing defamation case

PESHAWAR: A local court on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by Prime Minister Imran Khan requesting to return a defamation suit filed by a former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) female lawmaker against him as the court lacked the jurisdiction in this regard.

Fauzia Bibi, the former MPA who was elected on the reserved seats for women on the PTI ticket, had filed the defamation suit for recovery of damages to the tune of Rs500 million from Imran Khan for defaming her by levelling “baseless” allegations against her in a press conference during which she was accused of selling her vote in the Senate elections.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge Shah Waliullah Hamid Hashmi dismissed the application with the observation that this court has the jurisdiction to hear the defamation suit against the prime minister.

The court had on January 24 reserved the decision for pronouncing it on January 30 after completion of arguments by both the parties.

The court fixed February 15 for the next hearing. It directed the counsel to the premier to submit written reply to the defamation suit.

The Supreme Court lawyer Babar Awan, representing the prime minister, had filed the application under Order 7 Rule 10 of Code of Civil Procedure. He stated that the press conference in question addressed by his client was arranged in Islamabad and not in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Babar Awan contended that the committee for taking action against the plaintiff was also constituted in Islamabad.

He submitted before the court that the cause of action arose in Islamabad and it was not in the jurisdiction of the present court to deal with the case.

Syed Ghufranullah Shah, representing the plaintiff (Fauzia Bibi), requested the court to dismiss the application of the prime minister as the court had jurisdiction to hear the suit.

He argued that the allegations against the plaintiff were levelled in connection with the Senate elections for which she had cast vote at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Syed Ghufranullah Shah argued that his client was member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and Imran Khan’s statement related to her stint as a lawmaker. He said the Defamation Ordinance 2002 was a special law and it had overriding effect over other laws.

Fauzia Bibi had filed the suit in June 2018 under the Defamation Ordinance 2002. The only defendant in the suit is PTI chief Imran Khan, who subsequently became the prime minister.

She sought an order of the court against the PTI chairman to decree Rs5 billion as damages for defaming her.

It was submitted that the plaintiff was a law-abiding citizen and belonged to a respectable family.

The former lawmaker claimed that she had an excellent reputation in the political and social circles. She reminded that she was made parliamentary secretary for tourism and allied services by the previous PTI government in KP.

The plaintiff claimed that she followed the party policy in the Senate elections and cast her vote for the PTI candidates nominated for general and reserved seats.

She stated that the defendant Imran Khan started uttering, spreading and resorting to the publication, communication and circulation of “maliciously false, baseless and oral” statements against the plaintiff.

Fauzia Bibi recalled that Imran Khan used the electronic, print and social media to accuse her of horse-trading and selling her vote for money.

The plaintiff said she clarified her position by taking oath on the holy Quran to deny the allegations. She said her lawsuit was also supported by an affidavit on oath.

She recalled that she replied on April 28 to a show-cause notice issued by the party leadership. She claimed that an inquiry committee was formed under PTI leader Naeemul Haq, but he failed to call its meeting.

She maintained that a second inquiry committee headed by Asad Qaiser, the former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, never held its meeting. She said after waiting for a long period, she sent a legal notice to the PTI chairman through her lawyer on May 22 asking him to tender an apology or pay damages for defaming her.