SC upholds sentences of police officials, others in Iftikhar Chaudhry manhandling case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed appeals of the convicts in a case pertaining to the manhandling and maltreating of the former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. 

A five-judge bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, upheld conviction of the accused, restoring sentences awarded to them by the court.

SSP motorway police Jameel Hashmi, SSP Captain (retd) Zafar Iqbal and DSP Rukhsar Ahmad were arrested from the premises of the apex court following the announcement of the ruling.

Sentence of former IGP Islamabad police Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmad and former Islamabad chief commissioner Khalid Pervez and deputy commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali was also restored.

On May 16, the five-member bench reserved the verdict on intra-court appeals filed by the former Islamabad police and administration officials, who were awarded sentences of varying degrees after being found guilty of manhandling and roughing up Justice Chaudhry.

The court had convicted former Islamabad chief commissioner, deputy commissioner, IGP, DSP and others for manhandling and maltreating the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Caudhry.

A three-member bench comprising Justice (retd) Rana Bhagwandas, Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice (redt) Nasirul Mulk had indicted the accused.

The officials had manhandled the former chief justice when he tried to go on foot to the Supreme Court to face a presidential reference before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) after he was suspended by the then President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The erstwhile Islamabad chief commissioner and deputy commissioner were sentenced to imprisonment till the rise of the court, while former IGP and SSP were awarded 15 days in prison.

Whereas, the rest of the accused were sentenced to one-month imprisonment each.