ISLAMABAD: Justice Babar Sattar of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday rejected the unconditional apology of Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon, Senior Superintendent of Police Malik Jameel Zafar and others for flouting the court orders in a case pertaining to the arrest of PTI leaders Sheheryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar.

The judge directed the prosecutor Qaiser Imam to devise a schedule to proceed in this matter. Initially, Advocate General Islamabad Ayaz Shaukat appeared in this case. He could not convince the judge regarding the conduct of the alleged contemnors, however.

Justice Sattar on Sept 7 indicted Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon, SSP Malik Jameel Zafar, SP Farooq Buttar, and Margalla Police Station SHO Nasir Manzoor for contempt.

In routine cases, the court appoints the advocate general as a prosecutor. However, in this case, the judge has appointed the incumbent president of the Islamabad Bar Association as the prosecutor.

DC Memon challenged the proceedings before a division bench, which dismissed the appeal. The division bench observed that the interim order was not appealable.

‘Out of court settlement’

During the hearing, Justice Sattar expressed displeasure over the DC’s attempt for an ‘out of court’ settlement. The judge disclosed that the DC tried to approach the judge through family and friends.

He warned of issuing another show-cause notice to the DC for influencing the court’s proceedings and advised Mr Memon to focus on his case legally rather than wasting energy on ‘short-cuts’. When the judge indicted Memon, SSP Zafar and others, they all pleaded not guilty. Subsequently, the court decided to put all of them on trial and appointed a prosecutor as well.

On August 16, Justice Sattar suspended the detention orders of Mr Afridi and Ms Gulzar and warned the DC and SSP of contempt of court proceedings.

Mr Afridi was first arrested on May 16 from his Islamabad residence under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance, 1960. He was rearrested on May 30 under the same section soon after his release from prison.

On August 3, PTI’s Afridi was granted bail by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench but was later picked up by the Rawalpindi police soon after his release from Adiala jail. A petition was subsequently filed by his lawyer in the IHC calling for Afridi’s release and for the MPO order to be set aside. Meanwhile, Gulzar was allegedly abducted by the Islamabad police on August 9.

A petition was later filed by her mother in the IHC on the grounds of illegal arrest and violation of articles 4, 9, 10A and 14 of the Constitution, asking the police to produce her daughter in court.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2023