PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday disposed of a contempt of court case against different persons regarding stopping of a judge by military personnel at a checkpost in Bannu Cantonment a few months ago and uploading a video footage of the incident on social media.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Ms Irshad Qaiser was informed by an assistant director (legal) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Jawad Akhter, that they had already blocked different websites having the said footage.

The official stated that the footage was initially available on a website Siasat.com, which was blocked by PTA. He added that condemnation of uploading the footage was also issued by different bodies, including the said website.

Also drops charges against anchorperson

The bench also dropped contempt of court charges against an anchorperson of a private television channel, Ahmad Qureshi, after he tendered an unconditional apology for conducting a programme on the said incident and passing certain comments. The anchor stated that sanctity of the high court was binding on every citizen and that he had passed the comments in ignorance. The bench warned him to remain careful in future.

The ministry of defence had already submitted its comments wherein it had stated that the video footage was not released by them and they believed in independence of the judiciary. The secretary defence had filed comments on behalf of the ministry and stated that they regretted the surfacing of the footage, but it was not released by the ministry.

The secretary had stated that a committee would be constituted having representatives from the armed forces, lawyers and judges so that in future the lawyers and judges did not face any inconvenience at checkposts.

The bench was hearing a contempt of court petition filed by the additional registrar of PHC’s Circuit Bench at Bannu against the concerned personnel deputed at Muslim Gate checkpost where the incident had taken place on May 27. A judge of PHC, Justice Ikramullah Khan, was on way to Bannu Cantonment along with police escort vehicle when they were allegedly stopped by the security personnel.

Meanwhile, the bench disposed of a writ petition filed by PHC Bar Association, Bannu bench, regarding restrictions imposed on lawyers while going to the high court’s bench in Bannu Cantonment. Advocate Anwarul Haq and Pir Hameedullah Shah appeared for the petitioner and stated that the provincial government had contacted other relevant institutions and now an alternative route had been provided to the lawyers and litigants for going to the high court.

Similarly, in a writ petition filed by PHCBA’s former president Mohammad Essa Khan regarding problems being faced by citizens at different security checkposts in Peshawar, the bench once again issued directives to the provincial government to arrange meeting with the petitioner and other stakeholders so as to formulate standard operating procedures for the checkposts. The bench adjourned hearing of the case.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2015