ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court today ordered the dismissal of terrorism clauses against Imran Khan for threatening judge Zeba Chaudhry.
Announcing the verdict, the Court ordered the authorities to remove sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) from the case against PTI Chairman Imran Khan for threatening a female judge.
A two-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah had reserved the verdict on PTI’s plea earlier in the day.
Khan was booked in a case under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ACT) for making threatening remarks against an additional sessions judge and senior officials of the Islamabad Police in his speech at a rally.
The IHC said that the speech of PTI chairman does not fall in the category of terrorism, hence the case should be dismissed.
Earlier, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which was probing the anti-terrorism case against Imran Khan stated in the court that the anti-terrorism case against Imran Khan was lawful.
Nonetheless, the court rejected this viewpoint and dismissed the case against Imran Khan.
The PTI chief had made the controversial remarks during a party power show in the capital on August 20 and was subsequently booked for “terrorism” under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Another case was registered against the former premier for violating Section 144. However, new sections were later added to the FIR, against which the PTI chief had approached the court.
The section added to the FIR later were Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 186 (imprisonment for three months), and 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
At the Islamabad rally on August 20, Imran had warned the judiciary against its “biased” attitude towards his party, saying that it should brace itself for the consequences.
The former prime minister had also warned additional district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved the two-day physical remand of his aide Shahbaz Gill’s on the request of the capital police in a sedition case, that she, too, would face dire consequences.
Moreover, the PTI chief had threatened to file cases against Islamabad’s inspector general of police and deputy inspector general of police, saying, “We won’t spare you.”
The Islamabad High Court today reserved the judgement of the case and announced it Monday afternoon.
This story will be updated further…………
