ISLAMABAD: In a majority judgment of two to one, the Supreme Court on Tuesday regretted that the conduct of PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan was willfully contumacious and disobedient throughout the trial court proceedings in the Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by PM Shehbaz Sharif.

The trial court had not committed any illegality or material irregularity in the exercise of its jurisdiction through its orders of closing the right to defend and therefore the Lahore High Court (LHC) had rightly declined to interfere with them in its revisional jurisdiction, observed Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in the judgment he wrote.

Justice Shah was heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench that had taken up an appeal moved by PTI chairman challenging the Dec 7, 2022, Lahore High Court (LHC) order of upholding the sessions court Lahore’s closure of Mr Khan’s right to defend after he failed to respond in time in the defamation case.

The conduct of the petitioner disentitles him for the indulgence of this court in its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, Justice Shah observed, adding that the appeal was without substance on merits and, therefore, the present petition was dismissed.

Justice Ayesha A. Malik, however, dissented from the majority judgment. In her dissenting note, she said in a case plagued by adjournments since 2017, the court must weigh the balance between a fair trial and the legitimate grounds for the latest request for adjournment.

However, the petitioner’s recent public shooting and injury at a political rally justified the grant of an adjournment for a reasonable time under the circumstances, Justice Malik observed, adding that the right to defence could not be struck out without considering all relevant factors and the court must weigh the balance between a fair trial and the circumstances at hand.

Published in Dawn, February 22th, 2023