ISLAMABAD (ENN/MD) Supreme Court (SC) sentenced Senator Nehal Hashmi to one-month imprisonment and barred him from holding public office for the next five years here on Thursday as it announced its verdict in the contempt of court case against Hashmi.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Dost Mohammad also imposed a fine of 50,000 Pakistan rupees on the senator.
Further, the bench dismissed an unconditional apology, which Hashmi had submitted to the court on January 24 for his threatening video message against “those investigating” former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.
While Justice Khosa and Justice Baqar are in agreement over the punishment announced against Hashmi, Justice Dost Mohammad has written a dissenting note against the punishment.
Link of controversial speech by Nehal Hashmi
Hashmi’s controversial speech had landed him in hot water, as he was directed by his PML-N to tender his resignation from the Senate, which he later withdrew; while the party revoked his party membership.
On May 31, the apex court had taken notice of Hashmi’s anti-judiciary speech. Enraged by the senator’s incendiary remarks, the court, in one hearing of the case, had likened the government to the Sicilian mafia.
A case was registered against the senator on June 4 at Karachi’s Bahadurabad police station under Sections 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 228 (intentional insult or interruption to public servant sitting in judicial proceeding) and 505 (statements inciting public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on behalf of the state after the attorney general asked the Sindh prosecutor general to initiate proceedings since the speech was made in Karachi.
In July, Hashmi was charged with ‘contempt of court’ under Article 204(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan, read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003.
The court had said at the time that Hashmi’s speech sought to “scandalise the court, bring the authority of the court into ridicule and disrespect.” Islamabad police took Hashmi in custody as the verdict was announced and was shifted to Adiyala Jail.
