Contempt of court case
\nDC Memon barred from flying abroad; court to announce verdict next week
\nISLAMABAD
\nThe Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon\u2019s unconditional apology and barred him from going abroad on Wednesday in the case against arresting PTI leader Shehryar Afridi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
\nThe IHC\u2019s single-member bench headed by Justice Babar Sattar heard the case about the DC Islamabad and senior superintendent of police operations (SSP Operations) abusing their power and being in contempt of court while giving orders to arrest the PTI leader.
\nThe Islamabad deputy commissioner\u2019s apology came in light of the official skipping the previous court hearing despite being summoned by the court. SSP (Operations) Malik Jameel Zafar also apologised to the IHC.
\nJustice Sattar censured the DC for issuing 69 detention orders under the MPO in the wake of May 9 riots, terming his actions as \u201cvery stupid\u201d. The judge observed that the senior bureaucrat \u201cwill face consequences\u201d.
\nDC Memon\u2019s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued that as per the district intelligence committee\u2019s reports, Afridi was planning protests while in jail. He said the MPO orders were issued based on those reports, which included observations from the representatives of the ISI, IB, MI, 111 Brigade, and police representatives.
\nJustice Sattar remarked that despite the judicial observation, more MPO orders were issued on the same source report. \u201cBut the detention orders under MPO stopped being issued when this court suspended the powers of these officials,\u201d the judge stated. He added that other court benches too declared nearly 40 MPO orders void.
\nThe court ordered the DC to submit a reply to another show cause notice by February 26 (Monday) and announced to pass judgment on the case next week. The IHC on Jan 26 temporarily restored the power of the federal capital\u2019s DC to issue directives under Section 3 MPO.
\nThe court also issued notices to the parties on the appeal of the chief commissioner and others against Justice Sattar\u2019s decision.
\nJustice Sattar earlier declared the DC\u2019s authority to issue MPO illegal. Following the verdict, the chief commissioner and the home secretary had filed an intra-court appeal against the decision.
\nThe matter regarding the power to issue MPO reached the court after the multiple MPO-based detentions of several PTI leaders under the crackdown against the former ruling party.
\nThe IHC on September 7 restrained the Islamabad DC from exercising section 3-MPO powers until further notice.
\nJustice Sattar ruled that the DC cannot use the powers of Section 3 of MPO until further notice and issued a notice to the attorney general for assistance in determining the constitutionality and legality of the ordinance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Contempt of court case DC Memon barred from flying abroad; court to announce verdict next week ISLAMABAD The Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon\u2019s unconditional apology and barred him from going abroad on Wednesday in the case against arresting PTI leader Shehryar Afridi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-388654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n