Awan’s counsel maintains that court cannot indict Awan without having made decision on unconditional apology. PHOTO: RASHID AJMERI/ EXPRESS ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will indict former law minister, Babar Awan on Thursday, after he withdrew an intracourt appeal on Wednesday, Express News reported.
Awan had filed an intracourt appeal in the court after the court did not consider his unconditional apology. He had offered the apology twice to the court.
Heading a three-member bench, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard Awan’s appeal and allowed him to take his appeal back.
Awan’s counsel, Ali Zafar, maintained during the hearing that the court cannot indict Awan without having made a decision on the unconditional apology he offered twice to the court.
He said that the purpose of contempt of court proceedings is to maintain the respect of the judiciary not to “demean someone”.
The chief justice observed that different cases cited during the hearing were not relevant and that Awan’s counsel should let the court conclude its proceedings.
The former law minister was prosecuted for contempt of court adjudication after he criticised an apex court verdict handed down on December 1, 2011, pertaining to the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Memogate scandal.
In his apology letter, Awan had stated that his comments regarding the judiciary were unintentional, based on inadvertence and that he was offering an unconditional apology for his utterances that have been found prima facie to be disrespectful by this bench.
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