The Sindh High Court (SHC) has officially declared the legal proceedings initiated by a subordinate court in Thatta concerning a defamation case against former Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman Shabbar Zaidi and several others as unlawful and without proper jurisdiction. This significant ruling came after a thorough review of the case, highlighting serious procedural flaws in the way the matter was handled at the lower court level.
Justice Hassan Akbar, presiding over the case at the SHC, pointed out that the Additional Sessions Judge in Thatta did not possess the legal authority to entertain or adjudicate the defamation complaint. The court emphasized that the subordinate court had overstepped its jurisdiction by proceeding with the case despite lacking the necessary legal grounds to do so. The complaint, which was described as baseless, failed to meet the fundamental requirements set forth under the law.
Delving deeper into the legal framework, the SHC underscored the importance of adhering to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which clearly stipulate that cases must be tried in the jurisdiction where the alleged offence actually occurred. The petitioner’s legal representatives argued that this principle was blatantly ignored, as the complaint was filed in Thatta despite the fact that the alleged defamatory content was neither published nor circulated there.
Furthermore, the court clarified that simply reading or coming across the purportedly defamatory material in a certain location does not fulfill the criteria necessary to establish the offence of defamation. The contentious material in question was part of a formal application submitted before the Sindh High Court in Karachi, and there was no evidence to suggest it was disseminated or made public in Thatta. This distinction proved crucial in the SHC’s decision to invalidate the lower court’s proceedings.
The SHC also highlighted that for a defamation offence to be legally complete, the defamatory content must be communicated to a third party, which was not the case here. The complaint lodged in Thatta failed to demonstrate this essential element, further weakening the case against Zaidi and the co-accused. Earlier, the Thatta sessions court had issued bailable warrants against Shabbar Zaidi, along with Omar Muhammad, Ali Ahsan, and Fahad Khan, based on a direct complaint filed by the plaintiff Asad Rizvi.
This ruling by the Sindh High Court not only sets a precedent regarding jurisdictional boundaries in defamation cases but also reinforces the necessity for courts to strictly follow procedural laws to avoid misuse of the judicial process. The decision serves as a reminder that legal actions must be grounded in proper jurisdiction and factual basis to ensure justice is served fairly and efficiently.
