ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday referred the ‘controversial’ Facebook posts of a judge hearing the Toshakhana case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), while a lower court granted PTI chief Imran Khan a one-time exemption from attendance in the Toshakhana criminal case.

The IHC chief justice was hearing petitions filed by Mr Khan, seeking the transfer of his case from the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar to another court.

The trial of Mr Khan is at the final stage, as the court has already summoned him to record his statement under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, under which the judge can put a question to an accused person before concluding trial proceedings.

Mr Khan was seeking multiple reliefs in the Toshakhana case, from the transfer of the case to the summoning of record from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and also questioned the maintainability of the complaint filed against him by the ECP for concealing details of state gifts in his assets declarations.

Dismisses transfer of bail petitions in May 9 cases; lower court grants one-time exemption to PTI chief

Justice Farooq noted that the PTI chairman’s petition against the maintainability of the complaint in fact is “the second round of litigation on inter alia subject of limitation and authority of person filing complaint on behalf of the Election Commission of Pakistan, as earlier, this Court [IHC] had… referred to learned trial court for decision afresh.”

Mr Khan also took up the matter to the Supreme Court but to no avail.

One of the reasons agitated by Mr Khan for the transfer of the matter to another court is the alleged bias of the judge hearing Toshakhana case and in this regard certain posts on his Facebook account were presented before the judge which were also shown to the IHC chief justice.

The court was told that the trial court judge, as such, denied the posts.

Justice Farooq directed the registrar office to “remit the issue of the authenticity of the posts to the Cyber Crime Wing of Federal Investigation Agency, Islamabad, with the direction to submit the report positively before next date of hearing.”

The court sought assistance from the ECP and adjourned further hearing till next week.

Meanwhile, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq also dismissed a petition by Mr Khan seeking the transfer of his bail petitions in the cases registered against him following May 9 violent protests from the court of ADSJ Tahir Abbas Sipra.

He rejected the request seeking transfer of the bail petitions observing that the counsel could not give plausible reason for such a prayer.

One-time exemption granted

Separately, a lower court granted a one-time exemption from attendance to the PTI chairman in the Toshakhana criminal case and adjourned further hearing till the next date, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Hamayun Dilawar presided over the criminal case against Mr Khan. As the hearing began, Mr Khan’s counsel, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, filed a request to the judge seeking a one-time exemption from his client’s attendance, citing security issues preventing the PTI chairman from arriving.

The judge remarked that ensuring security arrangements was the responsibility of concerned authorities. The court had conducted a total of 37 hearings in the Toshakhana case, but the accused had appeared in only three hearings, the judge noted, adding that the defence lawyers were consistently filing exemption requests.

ECP lawyer Amjad Pervaiz opposed the request, stating that the appearance of an accused was essential during trials in criminal cases as per the directives of the top court.

The exemption could be granted only if the court was satisfied with the reasons provided, he said. After a recess, Mr Khan’s lawyer informed the court that his client would appear before the court on the next hearing as per the senior counsel Khawaja Haris.

The court accepted the two requests, including exemption from appearance for Imran Khan, and adjourned the case until Monday.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023