Justice Athar Minallah’s dissenting note supporting the livestreaming of court proceedings in the NAB amendments case featuring Imran Khan was issued on Wednesday, with the judge ruling that there was no ‘substantive reason’ to keep the case’s proceedings away from the public eye.
“There is no substantive reason nor exceptional circumstances exist for denying the public their right to have access to the Court proceedings through live streaming,” Justice Minallah wrote.
“In the circumstances, denial of this guaranteed right will amount to violating the principles laid down in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, as highlighted above,” Justice Minallah added.
The judge also added that it was a duty for the court to appear ‘impartial, fair and independent’ so that public trust is maintained.
He also wrote that the court should ‘walk the extra mile’ to ensure transparency in court proceedings given the infringement of the fundamental rights in the country.
Justice Minallah’s note also referred to the punishments handed down to former prime ministers including Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, adding that the right to fair trial was infrienged but the damage was ‘irretrievable’.
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Referring to Imran Khan, he wrote that, “He is definitely not an ordinary prisoner or convict. The perception of the existence of a coercive apparatus of the State cannot be ignored by a constitutional court, particularly having regard to the unjustified treatment of representatives of the people in the past.”
“The perception of complicity of this Court in or by allowing the elected representativesto be humiliated, harassed and persecuted for other than bona fide reasons is not unfounded,” the note added.
The five member bench hearing the National Accountability Court had decided not to livestream proceedings in the case by a majority of 4-1. Imran Khan was in attendance in the proceedings vis video link.
The majority judgement had said that there was a danger of court proceedings being ‘misused or exploited for ulterior or personal purposes’.
