The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon as guilty of contempt of court and awarded him six-month imprisonment and Rs100,000 fine. Pronouncing its verdict on Friday, the court also found Islamabad police’s SSP Operations Jamil Zafar also guilty and sent him to prison for four months and slapped with a fine of Rs100,000. A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Babar Sattar also awarded two-month prison sentence and Rs100,000 fine to SHO Nasir Manzoor. IHC’s Justice Sabar Sattar, however, suspended the jail sentence of the deputy commissioner, saying he is being given a chance to file an appeal against the court verdict. “The deputy commissioner will be arrested if his sentence was not suspended by filing an appeal in 30 days,” the judge remarked.  In reaction, Islamabad police officers will challenge the IHC verdict, arguing that they and the deputy commissioner used their powers as per law to maintain law and order.

They said that all are equal before the law and they will take next step in accordance with the law.The police officers will continue to work until final decision of the court. On the last hearing, the court had reserved the verdict in the contempt of court case, saying it will be announced on Friday, directing the accused to be present on that day, dismissing the plea for exemption from appearance. In September last year, the IHC had restrained the deputy commissioner from issuing MPO orders for an indefinite period. Justice Babar Sattar had ruled that the Islamabad DC cannot use the powers of Section 3 of MPO for an indefinite period. The order was issued during the hearing of a petition against the detention of PTI leaders Shehryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)