Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday penalized anchorperson Dr Shahid Masood by banning his program form being aired for three-months.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar heading a three-member bench conducted proceedings of the suo moto case following the anchor’s baseless allegations in the Zainab murder case.

Masood’s counsel had filed an unconditional apology to the court earlier, which was rejected, with CJP observing that the time for apology had passed. During the hearing, the court said that the anchor had passed controversial remarks and ridiculed a court officer in his show.

CJP remarked that the anchor could be charged for contempt, and it was still under consideration following his comments in his TV show.

The apex court reminded Masood that he had said that if his allegations were proved wrong he would be ready to be hanged. Nisar asked Masood how the court should hold him accountable after his allegations proven completely unfounded. The anchor suggested and as agreed by the court after a written apology by Masood, the program has been suspended from being aired for three months.

Masood had alleged on his TV show on January 25 that Imran Ali, convicted of rape and murder of Zainab, was affiliated with an International child pornography mafia and had 37 foreign accounts as well. The court had directed the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe into the anchor’s allegations, which were declared as baseless and insubstantial later on.