ORDER SHEET.
IN THE ISLAMABAD HIGH COURT, ISLAMABAD.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
Criminal Original No. 197-W/2023
The State
Versus
Mr. Irfan Nawaz Memon, District Magistrate & others
S. No. of Date of Order with signature of Judge and that of
order/ order/ parties or counsel where necessary.
proceedings Proceedings
(17) 20.02.2024 Mr. Qaiser Imam, Prosecutor.
Raja Rizwan Abbasi, Advocate for respondent
No.1.
Mr. Shah Khawar and Mr. Babar Hayat
Samore, Advocate alongwith respondent No.2.
Ms. Bushra Qamar and Mr. Muhammad Fahim
Akhtar Gill, Advocate alongwith respondent
No.3.
Syed Waqar Ali Shah, applicant/Record
Keeper, Deputy Commissioner’s Officer,
Rawalpindi.
Mr. Yasir Afridi, AIG, Special Branch,
Islamabad.
Mr. Riazul Haq, Incharge Control, Intelligence
Bureau, Islamabad.
Respondent No.4, in person.
The learned counsel for respondent No.1
informed the Court at the outset that Irfan
Nawaz Memon was not present before the Court
as he had received directions from his mother
that he must receive them at his ancestral
home for their onward journey to Saudi Arabia
on 22.02.2024, which is why he had no option
but to leave for Khairpur today.
2. The respondent, Irfan Nawaz Memon, is
an accused in a matter that is being tried by
this Court on a day-to-day basis. The order
sheet reflects that while the show cause notice
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was issued to Irfan Nawaz Memon on
15.08.2023, the proceedings in the matter have
suffered delays to accommodate the
respondents and the convenience of their
learned counsels. His counsel had informed the
Court on a previous hearing that the said
respondent wished to proceed for Umrah on
22.02.2024 and was advised that the trial will
hopefully be concluded before then. On
19.02.2024 respondent No.1 sought exemption
from personal appearance at the hearing today.
This Court did not grant exemption from
personal appearance as the matter was fixed
today for final arguments. It is inexplicable
how, despite the denial of exemption from
personal appearance, the Deputy Commissioner
could choose to defy the order of this Court and
choose not to appear before the Court today
even though the matter was fixed for final
arguments and the time for hearing was fixed
at 02:30 pm on the request of the learned
counsels for the parties to suit their
convenience.
3. Let non-bailable arrest warrants be
issued for the production of Deputy
Commissioner, Islamabad Capital Territory,
Irfan Nawaz Memon, before this Court
tomorrow i.e. 21.02.2024 at 9:00 am. The
arrest warrants will be executed by the
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Inspector General of Police, Islamabad, the
Inspector Generals of Police for any of the
Provinces and Territories of Pakistan in whose
jurisdiction the respondent Irfan Nawaz Memon
is found, and DG FIA if the respondent is found
at an airport, seaport or border-crossing. He
shall be produced before the Court at tomorrow
at 9:00 am.
4. Let the Ministry of Interior and DG
Passports also ensure that the name of Irfan
Nawaz Memon is placed on the Exit Control List
(ECL) so that he is unable to leave the
territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan.
5. Given that the petitioner has already
been issued show cause notice and a charge
has been framed he was under an obligation to
appear personally before this Court. The
petitioner was before the Court yesterday i.e.
19.02.2024 and it was in his presence that he
was informed that his request for being granted
exemption from appearance before the Court at
the hearing today is not being allowed. His
refusal to abide by the order of this Court and
skip the hearing today without any plausible
explanation, prima facie, constitutes
contumacious contempt of the order of this
Court to appear in person today and appears to
be aimed at delaying the adjudication of the
matter and frustrating the proceedings from
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being concluded. Let a show cause notice also
be issued to him for why he should not be
punished for such defiance and obstruction of
justice under Sections 3,5 and 17 of the
Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, read
together with Article 204 of the Constitution.
6. To come up for tomorrow i.e.
21.02.2024.
(BABAR SATTAR)
JUDGE
Shakeel Afzal
