Islamabad (Web Desk): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday decided to initiate contempt proceedings against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for allegedly threatening Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry.
According to details, the decision to issue the contempt of court notice by the IHC was taken in response to the registrar’s note and after consultations with all the other judges.
A larger bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the contempt case against Imran Khan. The bench is expected to hold a hearing of the case on Tuesday.
The development comes a day after a first information report (FIR) was registered against the PTI chief on Sunday under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) for threatening the judge and senior police officers at a rally at his Islamabad rally on Saturday.
Earlier today, the IHC granted transit bail to former premier till August 25 in the case filed against him for threatening a female judge and police officials at a public rally.
The bail plea was heard by Justice Mohsin Akthar Kayani and Justice Babar Sattar, who approved the bail and ordered him to approach the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) within these three days.
Imran’s lawyers, Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry, filed a petition seeking pre-arrest bail on his behalf in the IHC.
The plea states that Imran Khan has no criminal record from the past and has never been convicted for any offence.
"There is no chance of fleeing or damaging evidence presented by the prosecution. Imran Khan is also ready to submit money as surety against his bail,” the plea stated.
However, the IHC registrar’s office has raised three objections over the plea.
The office claimed that Imran did not get his biometrics done, came to the high court instead of approaching an anti-terrorism court, and that a certified copy of the terrorism case against him was not provided to the office.
However, IHC decided to take up the plea with objections for hearing.
On the other hand, the coalition parties of the incumbent government had earlier urged the superior judiciary to take immediate notice of Imran Khan's threat to the female judge and police officers during his F-9 Park speech.
As per a joint statement issued on Saturday, the coalition parties requested to take legal action against Imran Khan and his colleagues for interfering in the affairs of the interior minister and threatening the officers and government staff who are performing their duties according to the law.
