SC dismisses all petitions against judge Arshad Malik
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Announcing verdict on judge video scandal case, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed all the petitions against former accountability court judge Arshad Malik.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa read the verdict against judge Arshad Malik.
The following five issues needed to be attended to by the apex court:
(i) Which is the Court or forum that can presently attend to the relevant video for any meaningful consideration in the case of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif?
(ii) How is the relevant video to be established as a genuine piece of evidence?
(iii) How is the relevant video, if established to be a genuine piece of evidence, to be proved before a court of law?
(iv) What is the effect of the relevant video, if established to be a genuine piece of evidence and if duly proved before the relevant court, upon the conviction of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif?
(v) The conduct of the learned Judge namely Mr. Muhammad Arshad Malik in the episode.
The SC stated, “The learned Attorney-General has assured the Court that the said Judge shall be repatriated to the Lahore High Court, Lahore immediately and we expect that after his repatriation appropriate departmental disciplinary proceedings shall be initiated against him by the Lahore High Court, Lahore forthwith."
“It may not be an appropriate stage for this Court to interfere in the matter of the relevant video and its effects, particularly when the said video may have relevance to a criminal appeal presently sub judice before the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad.
“A criminal investigation is already being conducted into the matter by the Federal Investigation Agency, some other offences or illegalities under some other laws referred to by the learned Attorney General might also entail inquiries or investigations by the competent agencies or fora and any probe into the matter by a Commission to be constituted by the Government or by this Court may end up only with an opinion which may have no relevance or admissibility in the relevant appeal pending before the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad.
“In this view of the matter all these petitions are disposed of with the observations made.”
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Earlier, the three-member bench of the SC headed by the chief justice comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Umar Ata Bandial had reserved the verdict on August 20 after conducting three hearings on three petitions.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had submitted its report in the top court in the previous hearing.
The chief justice had said in his remarks that the federal government is protecting Arshad Malik by not reverting his service to Lahore, and stressed that his conduct brought shame to all judges.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had said judges of such characters can be blackmailed by many people and expressed annoyance that Arshad Malik visited the suspect’s home after issuing verdict.
On August 20, the SC ordered to send Accountability Court former judge Arshad Malik to the Lahore High Court immediately.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked that Judge Arshad’s video in Multan had been confirmed. “Why has the federal government stopped Judge Arshad Malik in the capital? Hundreds of honest judges are ashamed of the character of this judge,” he remarked.
He said that remarked that Judge Arshad’s video in Multan had been confirmed.
Expressing indignation at the FIA, Justice Azmat Saeed said that the FIA had not get the forensic done of the video yet about whom the entire country is questioning. “If Nasir Butt’s record and original video is unavailable, the FIA should have done the forensic of the cam video,” he remarked.
The attorney general assured the court that the judge would be repatriated to his respective court.
In the previous month, the top court took up a petition submitted by a citizen named Ishtiaq Ahmed, who requested the SC for an independent judicial probe into the video scandal.
During previous hearings, the CJP had asked Attorney General Anwar Mansoor to assist the court about the proceedings and the directions to follow over the controversial matter.
