IHC disposes of Malik’s plea in US blogger’s case

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday disposed of an application filed by former interior minister Rehman Malik to stop proceedings on US blogger Cynthia Dawn Ritchie’s plea in the subordinate court.

The IHC noted that the subordinate court would decide the case without being impressed by the high court’s observation.

The court remarked that the law would take its course in both the situations whether the US blogger’s allegations against Malik are true or not.

At the outset of the proceedings, Malik’s counsel Irfan Qadir appeared before the IHC and adopted the stance that the high court had ordered the subordinate court to hear the application for the registration of a case against his client again.

Chief Justice of IHC Athar Minallah said that the court had not given any order for the registration of FIR for the purpose.

He observed that the court did not want to give any observation in this regard, which would affect the proceedings of the subordinate court.

Counsel Qadir said sending the case to another judge meant that the court had rejected the decision of the first one.

The IHC CJ remarked that the allegations were of serious nature and that Malik himself should have demanded an investigation.

Qadir said the facts presented to the court regarding the application being heard were misstated and incorrect and added that different allegations were hurled during interviews in TV programmes.

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He recalled that on May 28, Cynthia had defamed former premier Benazir Bhutto on Twitter.

The lawyer said that Malik, who is also the chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Interior, took notice of the US blogger’s derogatory remarks on May 29, after which allegations of rape were hurled against three main leaders of the PPP.

He said Cynthia had given contradictory statements in all her interviews.

The IHC CJ observed that a fair trial and transparent investigation should be conducted into the case.

He said the law had defined a course and the court would follow it and that the subordinate court should decide the case without taking into consideration the high court’s observation.

Later, the court disposed of the PPP leader’s plea.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2020.