The Islamabad High Court has sentenced the capital's deputy commissioner (DC) to six-month imprisonment in a contempt of court case.
The court ruled that DC Irfan Nawaz Memon has been held guilty of misconduct for taking actions that were beyond his authority.
The IHC’s Justice Babar Sattar pronounced a reserved decision on Friday morning.
Moreover, the Islamabad police SSP (operations) was sentenced to four-month imprisonment besides a fine of Rs100,000. However, the Saddar SP was acquitted of the contempt of court charges. SHO Nasir Manzoor was also sent to jail for two months and fined Rs100,000. The court also ordered to send a copy of the decision to the prime minister.
However, the court itself suspended the officials' sentences for a month, and declared that if the punishments were not suspended under an appeal within 30 days, the officials would then be arrested.
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The sentences were suspended for a month due to the short punishments.
The court had issued the officials show-cause notices over the repeated detentions of PTI leaders Shehryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar in September last year under MPO.
On Tuesday, the court had withdrawn a second show-cause notice issued to the DC for skipping a previous hearing. However, the DC’s request for exemption from appearance on March 1 was rejected.
Previously, the IHC had barred DC Memon from travelling abroad for Umrah, issued him a show-cause notice, and ordered him to submit a reply by Monday. It had also rejected the Memon's unconditional apology for flouting court orders.
“You issued 67 orders under the MPO for a detention of 970 days,” the judge had remarked.
Following the court verdict, DC Irfan Memon told the media that as a Pakistani and civil servant, it was his duty to accept the court decision. "The court has suspended the sentence itself. We will take the legal route," he announced.
He further highlighted that he would accept any decision on his intra-court appeal.
Appeal against verdict
Meanwhile, the Islamabad police announced that its officers would file an intra-court appeal to declare the verdict null and void. It said the deputy commissioner and the police officers used their authority to maintain law and order.
A spokesman said the law is equal for everyone and they would conduct the proceedings as per law. The capital police will continue to perform its duties diligently, he added.
The DC, SSP (operations) and SHO will continue to work on their posts till the final decision, the spokesman declared.
