Court summons journalist in SC registrar defamation case

Supreme court registrar seeks Rs500 million in damages from editor-in-chief of The Friday Times Najam Sethi.

ISLAMABAD: A local court on Saturday summoned editor-in-chief of The Friday Times Najam Sethi in a defamation case filed by the registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Dr Faqir Hussain, Dawn.com reported.

The plaintiff’s counsel argued that defamatory content appeared in the anonymous section of the magazine, which implied that the plaintiff was benefiting from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz. The registrar is seeking Rs500 million in damages.

Dr Hussain’s counsel admitted his client owned two houses in Bahria Town, owned by Riaz, but argued that they were purchased in the open market.

District and sessions judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan heard the defamation case.

'Defamatory' article

The said article in The Friday Times appeared in the anonymous ‘Such Gup’ section under the title of “Tip of the Iceberg”.

The article read, “The Tony affair is just the tip of the iceberg, we hear. The contagion seems to have spread to other officials associated with the hallowed halls of justice. It is rumoured that the gent who’s supposed to register all and sundry has also been the recipient of the Town Tycoon’s largesse to the tune of two houses.”

Barrister Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb, counsel of Dr Hussain, stated before the court that the story is alluding to the plaintiff as the recipient of two houses from the ‘Town Tycoon’, a reference to Malik Riaz.

The barrister further said that Sethi had been served with court notices in September and October of last year. He requested that the court issue an order for Sethi to pay Rs500 million in damages to his client, in addition to a retraction of the article.

Sethi replied to the legal notices, but he neither paid the damages nor did he retract the allegedly defamatory article.

The case has been adjourned till January 26.