Former CJP’s defamation suit against PTI founder dismissed

ISLAMABAD: A lower court in Islamabad has dismissed a Rs20 billion defamation lawsuit filed by retired chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan nearly a decade ago, ARY News reported.

The former chief justice sent a defamation notice worth 20 billion rupees to PTI founder Imran Khan in July 2014 for accusing him of poll rigging in the 2013 general election.

Lawyers of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said legal proceedings would be initiated against the PTI chief if he failed to apologise for the allegations he had leveled earlier against the former chief justice.

Later, Iftikhar Chaudhry filed the lawsuit against Imran Khan in the court of district and sessions judge in January 2015.

In the notice, Chaudhry said Imran had defamed him as well as the judiciary by accusing him of rigging practices in the general elections. “Imran has again started repeating indecent words against the judiciary, DROs and ROs, etc and alleged their involvement in the so-called rigging.”

The former CJ said Imran’s speeches/press conferences were calculated with “the underlying mischief of harassing me and my family members and you have succeeded in damaging my reputation and image.”

“Allegations about my conduct and that of some of the ROs are clearly based on some ulterior motives and political gimmickry,” the notice further stated.

After prolonged proceedings, the court dismissed the lawsuit against Imran Khan, declaring the defamation notice as time-barred.

In its verdict, the court ruled that the defamation claim had exceeded the six-month period required by law for such statements, resulting in the dismissal of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s claim.

The court noted that the defamation claim was filed six months and 24 days after January 20, 2015. According to relevant laws, the claim should have been filed within six months.