Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah on June 5 issued a dissenting note on the majority verdict against the petition seeking live streaming of the hearing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendment case, stating that there was “no substantive reason” to deny the public the right to have access to court proceedings.
In a 13-page long document, the judge asserted that “Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi is the founder and undisputed leader of a major political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).” Therefore live streaming his court appearances wasn’t against the law.
The development came after the Supreme Court released a detailed verdict on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s petition last week, stating that broadcasting the court proceedings of cases involving politicians can be used for political “point-scoring”.
