KARACHI – The Supreme Court Saturday disposed of the citizen assault suo motu case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Imran Ali Shah after the victim forgave the latter.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar conducted the hearing of the case. The top judge wrapping up the case ordered Shah to deposit Rs3 million in the Diamer-Bhasha dam fund within in 15 days. The court also ordered that the PTI leader would be allowed to use a vehicle not more than 1800cc.
The newly elected provincial lawmaker, who was also present in the court, was reprimanded by the chief justice for publicly thrashing a citizen, Daud Chohah, in Karachi. The apex court took notice of the incident on August 18 after the video of the incident went viral..
During the hearing, the chief justice remarked, “What were you thinking when you beat up the citizen? No one even thrashes animals like this as you did.”
“You are a representative of the public and how can you behave in this way?” the chief justice continued, adding that this is an unacceptable crime
The PTI leader expressed regret over his action and apologised, to which, the top judge replied: “What sorry?”. Nothing can compensate the insult, he added.
Further, Justice Nisar also asked victim Dawood Chohan, who was slapped by Shah, as to why he forgave him. Chohan said he forgave him after the then nominated Sindh governor visited his house.
Replying to a question, the victim citizen told the court that he was slapped for three to four times. The CJP remarked, “You [Shah] will be slapped for four times publicly.
A video of Shah slapping Chauhan stumped internet last month. The PTI leadership had taken notice of the incident and issued a show-cause notice to Shah.
Senior party leader Firdous Naqvi had also tweeted that he had launched a probe into the matter and that Shah’s party membership had been suspended for a month.