LAHORE: A duty judge at the sessions court on Saturday adjourned the hearing of a Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif against Prime Minister Imran Khan, allowing the last opportunity to the latter’s counsel to submit replies by Oct 3.

The regular presiding judge seized with suit was not available on Saturday and Additional District and Sessions Judge (AD&SJ) Sohail Anjum heard the same.

The counsel from both sides were present in the court.

Asked if the required replies had been submitted, the counsel for Mr Khan sought further time for the purpose.

At this, the duty judge gave last opportunity to the defendant’s counsel and adjourned the hearing till Oct 3.

Mr Shahbaz on Twitter criticised Mr Khan for his continuous failure to respond to the court.

In a tweet, he said, “In a defamation case that I filed against Imran Khan for his blatant lies of offering him Rs10 billion, he has sought 33 deferments so far. I have petitioned the court to hear the case on daily basis. IK failed to submit his written reply to the court despite passage of three years.”

Mr Shahbaz had filed applications demanding the court to hear the suit on a day-to-day basis and to seize the right of the defendant (Mr Khan) to file a written statement as he had been failing to file it within the stipulated time.

The defamation suit states that Imran Khan started giving false and malicious statements against the plaintiff that the latter offered Rs10bn to the former through a common friend in exchange for withdrawing the case of Panama Papers pending before the Supreme Court.

It says the plaintiff served a legal notice to the defendant, asking him to tender a proper apology within 14 days through the print and electronic media. However, the defendant failed to make an apology and the plaintiff left with no option but to approach the court for recovery of damages.

The suit pleads that the “baseless and defamatory” statements by the defendant were widely circulated in the media, lowered the integrity of the plaintiff and caused him extreme mental torture, agony and anxiety.

The court has been requested to issue a decree for recovery of Rs10bn as compensation for the publication of defamatory content, in favour of the plaintiff.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2020