Elahi’s contempt petition: LHC accepts apology of police officers

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday disposed of a petition filed by the wife of PTI President Parvez Elahi seeking contempt proceedings against three police officers for their failure to escort her husband from the court to home safely.

The court observed that the explanation of the counsel for the respondent police officers had substance. The court remarked that power to convict in contempt was extraordinary and can be exercised with great circumspection, only where it was absolutely necessary.

“The forgiveness and pardon enshrined in Islam is one of the hallmarks of Islamic system of dispensation of justice,” the court wrote in its order and accepted the unconditional apology of the police officers.

The counsel of the DIG Investigation and other police officials argued that the police officers on September 01 accompanying PTI President Pervez Elahi were intercepted by Islamabad police close to his Gulberg house for execution of an order of preventive detention issued by the capital territory authority.

He said the situation was such that Punjab police were left with no option but to avoid any unwanted incident. He said the police without any delay informed the registrar of the high court about the incident. The lawyer said the police officers submitted unconditional apology placing them at the mercy of the court.

The Advocate General Islamabad argued that only the Islamabad High Court had the jurisdiction regarding any act of Islamabad police which was essentially taken in pursuance of order issued from the magistrate of Islamabad. The petitioner’s counsel asked the court to decide the matter in accordance with law.

The court after hearing the petitioners’ counsel at length disposed of the contempt petition against the police officials.

The Islamabad police on September 01 had rearrested PTI President Elahi near his Gulberg residence soon after the LHC set him free with a restraining order against his possible arrest or detention by any agency and the government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023