The court was moved by an application filed by District Management Group (DMG) officer Anita Ayoub.
Bukhari was declared the winner in the initial vote-count of the Tando Muhammad Khan provincial seat by-poll (PS 53), but following the slapping incident of Saturday, the Election Commission of Pakistan withheld official results.
Ayoub, stated in her application that “Most civil servants wish to work in an environment where their self respect and dignity is not made vulnerable by all and sundry. A number of us feel committed to stand by a self-imposed code called ‘the Moral Revival’ being the flagship commitment to restore the lost dignity of the civil servants, to reclaim the classic independence of the institution through internal and external reforms.”
Taking notice on Wednesday, the SC summoned Bukhari on March 2, and the inspector-general of Sindh police and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza have also been told to appear before the court. However, staff members who were assaulted have not yet been summoned.
Earlier Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry regretted the government's inaction in the matter and told Attorney General (AG) Maulvi Anwarul Haq that that SC had taken notice of the incident since it had damaged the image of the country.
“What kind of respect do you give us, was Anita Ayoub’s plea, the complainant and a DMG officer,” chief justice said. “I accepted her plea and issued notices," Justice Chaudhry said.
“You should conduct a summary trial and end the matter,” he directed the AG.
Haq submitted before the court that action was being taken regarding the incident.
Bukhari was caught on camera slapping two women at polling station No. 16 at the Government Girls High School.
COMMENTS (69)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
This woman should be decleared crimnal and unworthy of being a public represantative and the person who got next highest vote should be decleared winner.
The lady in question should be disqualified and should be made to forfeit her seat in the assembly.
Great job!!!! SC she should be punished and taught a lesson for slapping someone..... We should be really Thank Ful to the CJ?????
The slapping incident is shameful and insultion to say the least. However, it might now have much penalty according to the law. It is not an attempt to murder, like what happened when PPP worker was killed in cold blood. How about any suo motu action on the actual killing of innocents as well? Let us show some fairness and even handedness for a change. All crimes must be punished without any favors or exception.
very interesting SC is over active, action is already being taken by EC and the party.
its a clear case of shameless state brutality, she must be judged and disqualified as the case is prima facie and requires no further evidence
As much as we like to criticse PPP it is the only unifying national party without which it will be a challenge to keep the units together and it is the only party which has the courage to look at the establishment eyeball to eyeball. A sort of bliss-curse hybrid, the PPP. But I believe the bliss part far outweighs the curse part.
These waderas will undo what the great Jinnah did. And despite all his steel Iftikhar Chaudhry will be rendered helpless because he has to follow the legal procedures and laws of evidence. And the waderas follow only the rule of brutal force. PPP was founded by a big wadera and to this day is controlled by them.
Syeda Waheeda Shah acted as a female bully in the video aired on TV channels. Her hefty size was no match for her victims. The back hand slaps looked very powerful and dis-orientented the victims. Good they did not react.
The police officer standing next to Syeda during the shameful incident should also face the court as an eye witness in uniform.
Syeda you were on the wrong side of the law. All the sympathies are for the victims.
Whats the purpose of Election Commission, if SC needs to take up the matter via suo motu?
nice decision, fair justice should be done with Waheed Shah. SC should make example out of it to stop repetetion of such incidents in upcoming General Elections.
my humble request to the chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party - please expel this woman from the party. She is an insult to the nation.
what an incident really , shame to all those foolish ppl who are now at a level to rule in Pakistan and think of themselves the Lord they are the people who are ruining the image of Pakistanis all over the world , wonder why ppl of Pakistan select them and make them sit on their heads, I really wonder
Shame on Waheeda. Such candidates should be disqualified . Teachers are SERVING NATION , not eating up nation like these politicians.
what a justice, thousands of shia muslim killed in 2011-12 no suo motu notice by honorable chief justice, 03 slaps by a PPP activist and impromptu action. why such suo motu taken while election commission already initiated its inquiry.
i appreciate this step of SC.our nation is gradually moving in right direction.
its funny though, none of the women retaliated and simply started crying.
But the blind justice couldn't notice the brutal slaughter of passengers returning from a pilgrim. Maybe because it was done by those which it keeps acquitting. Azad adlia, Azad dehshat gard. Sad really.
SC must set her an example by speedy trial. But not like some on going cases...........
I would've logged FIR against waheeda if the courts didn't take action against her
Give it a break... the country has no law and order, let alone any justice and these are the kind of stupid issues SC has all the time in the world to play with....utterly pathetic...this is our honorable judiciary
She should not only be disqualified from holding any public office for life but she should be thrown behind bars for what she did
@Adeel Ahmed: Sir you need to think before you speak .. How on earth changing name or type of a court system will sort everything .. Lets say if we even had the so called shariat court .. will you also have Angels to run them ? or they will be the same people from the same society? Unless we try to improve a system we already have, we will remain backward .. we don't need to try different systems but improve the one we have had from the beginning and one which is followed by majority of the world community in excellent manner.
this lady needs to be barred from politics
Election Commission of Pakistan has already taken cognisance of the matter and as a first step, result of election of the constituency has been withheld, suo moto action in these circumstances is uncalled for. The Election Commission is a constitutional body that has been created to look after all matters pertaining to the Elections, interference by the Supreme Court under its original jurisdiction amounts to undermine authority of the Election Commission.
Why doesn't PPP cancel her membership? PPP (and now PTI) has the most obejctionable party members, including fraudsters, fake degree holders, and those who assult.
Jiyee BHUTTTO...
@Maryam:
what's the govt. doing? why don't you ask the govt. voted in by the ppl do give them security.the judges can't start acting like security guards for 180 million people.it's high time the govt. which collects taxes from the public provided them security of life and property.the supreme court took a great and bold step today given the amount of animosity and hate directed towards it by sectons of the media,it should be appreciated,not derided.the govt. should provide security to all pakistanis.
Thank you SC. This woman should be disqualified for slaping, and put in the jail for six months. She should not be allowed to run for any public Office fordver. SC please please set an example.
Waheeda could never imagine that a "routine matter" (for her) of slapping someone could land her in front of the CJ. Now she will see for herself how does it feel being slapped.
Another conspiracy against Democracy by non-democratic forces in Pakistan? I am still waiting to hear this usual statement in this incident as well, like before.
I hope The court makes this women accountablble for her aggressive act and make an example that such kind of behaviour is and should not be acceptable in our society. PPP high command should come forward and declare her unfit for public office. Obviously this women has an anger issues and uncontrollable behaviour. Assault charges with punishment should be given to her.
Good we need robust judgement!!
Fully agree with Asif Siddiqui.Why is the PPP silent so far? Why has the police not arrested Waheeda Shah so far? Now the PPP will start complaining of activism of SC and say that the Govt. is being hampered.Does the EC who is a retired judge not know his responsisbilities ? Or is he veing loyal to PPP like the PM ?
Worst than Waheeda Shah case are the cases of hundreds of bodies of missing people that have been found; it explains how azad is azad adliayya, it only picks up cases where SC is likely to make some quick cheap marks.
How can she slap a girl so brutally?Hats-off to you Supreme Court of Pakistan.I wish Bukhari should be punished for this cheap act which she did with those poor girls.I request honorable learned Chief Justice of Pakistan to take this matter seriously and teach this women what she deserves and should immediately sack her political activities i.e in future no none dare to insult or slap any respected girl or women.
She should be tried in court and punished if found guilty which she obviously is on video evidence. I wonder what these so-called politicians will do for people when they have no respect for their fellow country people. The political culture of Pakistan should change now and the people sitting in high offices should understand they are there to serve and not rule. Imran Khan rightly says Pakistan needs an Educational Emergency. Unless people are aware of their rights this country can never move forward and only way to raise awareness is to educate them. How would Bukhari have felt if she was slapped by the lady instead? EVERYONE HAS SELF RESPECT!
Good job SC! Punish her and blacklist her
Ms Shah should be slapped the same way in front of her halqa public :@
Supreme Court made us proud by taking Suo Moto on a slap while 18 killed by 'Pious Gunmen' are ignored! When will persecution of PPP and religious minorities will end in this land of pure!
it looks only SC has moral responsibility , while others have not
Yes, she should be made to understand that those loud, dramatic slaps in Urdu and Punjabi movies are supposed to stay right there, and not to be re-enacted in real life
Hope justice will prevail. Teachers dignity must be respected and due action should be taken by the CJ. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable in any society.
Very shameful act.
This woman needs to be put behind bars and she needs to be BARRED from participating in any public office elections. She should not be given any pardon.
Only swift and severe action would prevent recurrence by such thugs.
and YET PPP is the left-wing party :P:P
a perfect example of feudal society. nothing will happen, but its good that someone is taking notice at least ...
A lesson in telling white lies with a straight face!
Backward Pakistanis.
Thank You Supreme Court. You have taken So Motu action on this Big incident. Other minor incidents such as killing of 18 Shia yesterday did not need any So Motu action. Thank you supreme court.
Excellent step by the supreme court.they've been targetted in a deliberate smear campaign by some quarters in the media but they are still trying to do justice.now we'll have the list of all the wrongs going on in pakistan and cries of why don't they take up those cases.brave decision by the court to take up the case,given how severely they're attacked by 'experts' and 'analysts' any time they dare to hold anyone from the ppp accountable for their misdeeds.
This Wild Woman deserves strong punishment for her Shameful Act.. Shame on PPP Government and its Officials.
Good step CJ!!
Good stwp CJ!!
good step CJ!!
Whats the point? She will threaten and harass her way out of the case... We need Shariat courts... which give swift justice, without any prejudice and bias.
These kind of politicians must be punished.