The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court has jailed a serving district and sessions judge for three days for contempt of court, marking an unprecedented move in the region’s judicial history.
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court has jailed a serving district and sessions judge for three days for contempt of court, marking an unprecedented move in the region’s judicial history.
Following the court’s directives, police arrested the convicted judge, Raja Imtiaz Ahmed, on Wednesday within the court’s grounds.
A larger bench of the AJK Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan, rendered the decision, finding Judge Imtiaz guilty of perjury, willful disregard for court orders, and undermining the judiciary’s dignity.
A man named Raja Dilawar Khan was arrested on suspicion of having a sizable amount of heroin during a narcotics trial in Haveli Kahuta, which led to the contempt case. On January 19, 2023, the Supreme Court and the high court both denied his plea after the trial court denied his bail request.
The top court also ordered that the trial be finished in six months and mandated that the Supreme Court be contacted again for a reconsideration of bail if any new evidence came to light in support of the accused.
However, Raja Imtiaz, the Haveli Anti-Narcotics Court’s special judge at the time, acquitted the accused a month later, blatantly disregarding the Supreme Court’s directives. The accused fled overseas after the acquittal, which infuriated legal circles and led to the start of contempt proceedings.
