Imran Khan dodges contempt charges as Pakistan court withdraws show cause notice

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan dodged contempt charges on Monday after a court here accepted his written response and withdrew the show cause notice issued to him in a case pertaining to 'threatening' a female judge.

The 69-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief appeared before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday, where the case was heard by a larger bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Babar Sattar.

During the hearing, Khan's lawyer told the court that his client had submitted his third reply to the show cause notice after the first two replies were termed as unsatisfactory.

Chief Justice Minallah, who was presiding over the proceedings, said that the bench had read the affidavit provided by Khan and it was wrapping up the case.

"We take a lot of care in contempt of court cases,” Justice Minallah said, adding that the court was "dismissing" the notice issued to Khan.

"This is the unanimous decision of the larger bench,” he remarked.

During a rally in Islamabad on August 20, Khan had threatened to file cases against top police officials, election commission and political opponents over the treatment meted out to his aide Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested on charges of sedition.

He had also taken exception to Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the Capital Territory Police, and said she should "prepare herself as action would be taken against her".

Hours after the speech, Khan was booked under anti-terrorism laws for threatening police, judiciary and other state institutions at his rally. The IHC launched a contempt case against him.

Subsequently, the anti-terrorism charges were dropped at the orders of the IHC while the case had been transferred to a sessions court from an anti-terrorism courts.

Last month, Khan apologised before the IHC for his controversial remarks against the female judge and promised that he will not repeat it in the future.

"I am sorry if I have crossed a red line," Khan told the bench, which was expected to formally indict him in contempt proceedings.

Khan on Saturday submitted an affidavit in line with the court’s directions, saying he had realised he “might have crossed a line” in his criticism of the female judge and was willing to apologise to her “if she got an impression” that he had crossed a line.

He also assured the court that he would never do anything in the future that would hurt the dignity of any court and the judiciary, especially the lower judiciary.

Three days earlier, Khan had also appeared before an Islamabad lower court to personally apologise to Judge Chaudhry, who was not present there at the time.

The IHC on Sunday granted Khan pre-arrest bail in connection with the sessions court case.

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.\R The cricketer-turned-politician, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.