Talal Chaudhry requests SC to withdraw notice of contempt case

Minister of State for Interior Affairs Talal Chaudhry, on Saturday submitted a response in the Supreme Court (SC) requesting the contempt notice against him to be withdrawn.

On February 19, the SC gave another week to Minister of State Talal Chaudhry to submit reply in the contempt of court case. The reply was submitted by defence counsel Kamran Murtaza.

The reply states, "Whatever has been said might have been taken into account without relevance to the context due to media reporting. Needless to add, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has himself recently observed that speeches made by various persons are misconstrued and depicted in negative phraseology in order to sensationalise certain matters."

SC grants Talal Chaudhry one week to submit reply in contempt case

The reply also stated that respect and dignity of the court "has been ensured through Article 204 of the Constitution," further adding that Chaudhry "submits with utmost humility that he exercises his right of free speech and expression within four corners of law without any hunch of an action which may amount to contempt."

During the earlier hearing pertaining to suo motu notice taken by Chief Justice of Pakistan of Chaudhry’s speech against the judiciary at a rally in January, Defence Counsel Kamran Murtaza requested the court to extend by 10 days the deadline to submit reply.

However, the three-member bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, gave seven days. Justice Maqbool Baqir told the counsel to be reasonable in their request for extension.

On February 13, the top court had given a week to the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader to engage a counsel after the demise of his lawyer Asma Jahangir.