Daily Times

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Friday issued a detailed judgment explaining reasons behind its decision to declare Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case “unlawful”, a private TV channel reported.

In its detailed verdict, the Supreme Court noted that before reproducing the short order dated 11.05.2023, it was important to note that during the course of the hearing, this court made it abundantly clear to all learned counsels who were present that the sole question of law before it was the legality of the mode and manner in which the arrest warrant dated 01.05.2023 was executed inside the premises of the high court.

“That this Court was not concerned either with the legality of the arrest warrant or with the proceedings being undertaken by NAB in the investigation against the petitioner in the AQT Case. That those were matters which may, if at all, be determined by the competent fora in the appropriate proceedings,” read the verdict.

The top court wrote in its verdict that it is a well-settled principle that the dignity, sanctity and safety of the courts for the benefit of all concerned stakeholders are inviolable and cannot be compromised. The SC bench noted that the breach of this assurance undermines the effective dispensation of justice by deterring people from seeking the resolution of their disputes from the courts.

“Therefore, to safeguard the peoples’ right to access the Superior Courts and accordingly to seek justice, Article 204 of the Constitution has conferred this Court (and the High Courts) with the power to punish any person interfering with or obstructing the process of the Superior Courts in any way or prejudicing the determination of a matter pending before them,” read the verdict. The three-member SC bench said having surrendered before the high court to invoke its jurisdiction, the petitioner’s arrest from the high court premises preemptively blocked his recourse to the judicial relief of prearrest bail and thereby violated his fundamental right of access to justice. The top court observed that such action also interfered with the working of the high court, intervened in the exercise of its lawful jurisdiction and obstructed its process. “The manner and mode in which the arrest was executed, namely, the breaking of the door, glass partitions and windows of the bio-metric verification room and the manhandling and injuring of a number of lawyers, high court staff and police personnel undermined and lowered the authority of the high court and disturbed its decorum. As a result thereof, the short order dated 11.05.2023 declared the arrest of the petitioner to be invalid and unlawful for violating the dignity, sanctity and safety of the high court,” read the verdict.