Court notice: SHC wants Memon to file comments by Dec 16

Civil rights campaigner took the minister to court for allegedly claiming "judges lack courage to punish culprits"

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued a notice to Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon on a petition seeking his disqualification over alleged derogatory remarks he made against the judiciary.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, also issued notices to the provincial advocate-general to file comments of the authorities by December 16. Civil rights campaigner Rana Faizul Hassan took the minister to court for allegedly claiming "judges lack courage to punish culprits."

Hassan named Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani, and the Election Commission of Pakistan as respondents in the petition. He claimed that during a Sindh Assembly session, Memon said: "Law enforcement agencies put their lives in jeopardy and arrested criminals but the judges released them on bail and 95 per cent of the cases are still pending at the court."

The petitioner argued that Article 68 of the Constitution restricts anyone to pass derogatory remarks or make statements against the judiciary. He pleaded the court to take action against Memon.

Hasan requested the court to declare Memon's membership of the Sindh Assembly as void. On Thursday, the two-judge bench issued notices to Memon and AG Sindh for December 16 to file their comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.