Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Assembly on Monday has unanimously approved the contempt of Court law 2012.
The bill was tabled by Law Minister Farooq.H.Naik in the National Assembly.
The bill provides exemption to prime minister, federal ministers, chief ministers and state ministers from contempt proceedings over their remarks against judges. The exemption was given in accordance with the article 248 (1) of the constitution.
Contempt of court will not apply if:
A public officer holder exercises power for which he enjoys constitutional immunity under Article 248(1) of the constitution; a request in good faith and in temperate language before the chief justice of the Supreme Court or the high court or the Supreme Judicial Council, the federal or provincial governments for initiating disciplinary action against a judge; fair comments in good faith and in temperate language about general workings of the courts; fair comments on a court decision but again in temperate language; unless forbidden by a court, fair and accurate reporting of any judicial proceedings; publication of any material even if amounts to contempt on a sub-judice matter (pending before court) by a person who had no information regarding pendency of such matter on which he is commenting before the court; similarly distribution of such material by a person who had no information regarding pendency of such matter before a court of law; a plea of truth taken as a defence in the contempt proceedings; any remarks by an authority in an administrative capacity in connection with a disciplinary inquiry or in an inspection note or a character roll or a confidential report; and a true statement in good faith on a matter not connected with the judicial functions of a judge.
The bill states that if an accused or convict of contempt of court files an appeal, his/her show-cause notice or original order will remain suspended till final disposal of the matter. It said: “An accused person may also at any stage submit an apology and the court, if satisfied, may discharge him or remit his sentence.”
In addition, the period of filing an appeal against contempt verdict has been extended from one month to 60 days.
Addressing to the Assembly, the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf congratulated the committee for working day and night on the bill.
“It is the great victory of the parliament,” the PM said adding that they did not have any bad intentions towards any institution of the country and the government only wanted to prosper democracy.
He said that government has great esteem for the judiciary and they did not want to create any hindrance in the way of the judiciary.
The Prime Minister further lauded the role of opposition for the appointment of Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim as Chief Election Commissioner.
Protest of Opposition:
Soon after the bill was passed, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) protested against the passing of the bill, causing a ruckus in the house.
Earlier, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had said that his party would not support the proposed contempt of court and dual nationality bills being introduced by the treasury benches in the parliament.
Talking to local reporters, he alleged that the said bills were being ratified to protect a handful of people.
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