Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has called for contempt proceedings following a complaint against him and his alleged defamation on social media.
This request emerged a day after IHC’s Justice Babar Sattar also called for contempt proceedings due to a social media campaign targeting him and his family.
Justice Kayani, who is the second most senior judge at the IHC after the chief justice, argued that the social media campaign has “scandalized” him.
Sources revealed that Justice Kayani mentioned both the complaint lodged with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and also cited a vlog and a TV program where the complainant, Advocate Mohammad Waqas Malik, denounced the judge.
The complaints against both justices have not yet been addressed as the panel needed to consider the cases has not been assembled.
This delay occurred because the IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, responsible for assigning the cases to a bench, was leading a meeting of the Justice Committee of the federal capital.
The committee, the highest authority managing judiciary’s administration, operation, and development and addressing security issues in the federal capital, convened on Tuesday under CJ Farooq’s chairmanship. Attendees included District and Sessions Judge (West) Azam Khan, District and Sessions Judge (East) Shahrukh Arjumand, Law and Justice Secretary Raja Naeem Akbar, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa, Inspector General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, and other officials.
Complaint against Justice Kayani
Advocate Malik filed his complaint against Justice Kayani shortly after he and five other IHC judges penned a letter to the SJC criticizing interference by intelligence agencies in judicial matters.
Malik, a former secretary general of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, accused the judge of deliberately “waging a war” against security forces by persuading other high court judges.
The complaint articulated that “the actions of the learned judge … are not initiated in good faith as he is under ‘references’ that question his integrity and conduct as a judge”.
This refers to another complaint against Justice Kayani from October 2023, which alleged the judge favored lawyers he knew from his practicing days.
Advocate Malik’s complaint argued that intelligence agencies should monitor the ‘criminal intents’ of judges, but had failed in this regard.
He claimed that the letter from the six IHC judges was an attempt to stir up feelings among those linked to a political party and actually tarnished the stature of a judge who engaged in political activities for personal benefit.
The complaint demanded punitive measures against the judge under Article 209 of the Constitution.
