SC reserves judgment in contempt case against Talal Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict in a contempt of court case against PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, reserved the verdict after hearing concluding arguments from the former federal minister’s counsel Kamran Murtaza.

It turned down the lawyer’s request to announce the verdict after the July 25 polls, saying it couldn’t fix a date for its pronouncement as of now.

The bench directed Mr. Chaudhry to be in attendance at the time of the announcement of decision.

At the previous hearing, Justice Gulzar asked the counsel to present his final arguments over failure to present witnesses in his client’s defence despite being provided a last chance for the purpose.

Earlier, the judges had given the PML-N leader the last opportunity to present, if any, witnesses in his defence.

The apex court had launched contempt of court proceedings against Talal Chaudhry  for railing against the judiciary at a rally in the wake of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s ouster in the Panama Papers case last year.

At PML-N’s Jarianwala public meeting, the PML-N leader had bitterly criticized the judiciary, saying: “There was a time when the Kaabah was full of idols. Today, the judiciary is also full of PCO judges.”

He had asked the party chief to throw “those judges out because they will not do justice.”