SC issues notice to man over Justice Isa ‘death threats’

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to a man for allegedly using derogatory, contemptuous and scandalous language against the institution of the judiciary a day after Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed took suo motu notice of a viral video which allegedly contained threats towards Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Ahmed and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan heard the case during which a notice was issued to the man, Agha Iftikhar Uddin Mirza, over the video. The Director General (DG) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was also summoned for the next hearing.

During the course of proceedings, the Chief Justice asked the Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP) what was happening. The Attorney-General said Justice Isa’s wife had filed an application at Islamabad’s Secretariat Police Station to register a first information report (FIR). He said the police had referred the matter to the FIA and it had initiated proceedings under the Electronic Crimes Act.

The Chief Justice said the FIA was “doing nothing but looking at other matters of the judges”. The AGP stated that there was “no mechanism to monitor everything on social media as it is full of this kind of content”.

Mirza’s lawyer said his client had come to the court earlier, but the police took him into custody, to which the Chief Justice asked why the police detained him. Later, the hearing of the case was adjourned till July 2.