Supreme Court bars Shahid Masood from hosting TV show for three months

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday slapped a three-month-long ban on anchorperson Dr Shahid Masood’s TV talk show, ARY News reported.

Headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, a bench of the apex court, gave this order while hearing a case pertaining to the anchorperson’s claims about the convicted murderer and rapist of Kasur’s little Zainab.

The bench debarred Shahid Masood from hosting a news programme for a period of three months following a probe committee found his startling claims false and baseless.

The chief justice remarked that the anchor in a loud voice had said he should be hanged if his claims proved wrong.

When Justice Nisar asked him to suggest a punishment for himself, he tendered an unconditional apology from the depths of his heart and suggested his programme should be ordered to remain off the air for a month.

Subsequently, the bench directed him to submit a written apology and ordered him to stay off the air for three months.

Earlier in the day, Dr Masood came in for a lot of flak for mocking a federal law officer in hisTV talk show which he hosted on the day when the apex court had taken up the case.

The chief justice expressed extreme displeasure over him, saying: “How dare Shahid Masood mocked my law officer.”

The bench while calling for a short break asked the court office to get an electronic screen projector ready to view his news programme in which he had made the claims.

CJP Nisar observed that he would himself frame contempt charges against the anchorperson after watching the programme.

In the previous hearing,  the apex court said it will proceed against Shahid Masood after a probe team found his claims about the convicted murderer and rapist of Kasur’s Zainab false and baseless.

The chief justice expressed dissatisfaction over the anchor’s reply, saying he didn’t tender an apology over his accusations in his written statement.

He said he would take action against him in accordance with law.

Dr Masood’s lawyer said his client wanted to apologize formally in front of the bench to which the chief justice said he had made it clear in the previous hearing that the time to seek pardon had passed.

He said a recording of the anchor’s late night talk show wherein he urged him to take notice of his claims about the ‘serial killer’ will be played in the court.

The chief justice said the court would determine how long the news channel and the anchor’s talk show in question could be ordered to remain off the air.

Masood had claimed the murderer of Zainab, Imran Ali, owned foreign currency accounts and a whole gang was behind him.

He went on to claim that a highly influential political figure was either backing or involved in the child pornography racket working in Kasur, a group which had been making unethical videos of children and then uploading them on dark web.