Al Wakeelo
Your Digital Lawyer, Always on Duty
Initializing Secure Chambers
Your Digital Lawyer, Always on Duty
Initializing Secure Chambers
Petitioner: Mohtarma BENAZIR BHUTTO VS Respondent: THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN through the Secretary to the President
Court Name: Supreme Court of Pakistan Judge(s):Ajmal Mian, Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry, Shafi-ur-Rehman, Saad Saood Jan,
Rustam S. Sidhwa Title:Mohtarma BENAZIR BHUTTO vs THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN through the Secretary to the President Case No.: Civil Appeal No,59 of 1992 Date of Judgment:1992-03-24 Reported As: 1992 SCMR 1357 Result: Appeal allowed Judgment ORDER ' SHAFIUR RAHMAN, J.---For detailed reasons to be recorded later this appeal is allowed, the impugned order of the Special Court of Mr. Justice Muhammad Amir Malik, dated 28-1-1992 allowing the claim of privilege without examining the material in respect of which such privilege was claimed is set aside and the Special Court is directed to reconsider the question of privilege in the light of following facts:-- (i) The inquiry/trial before the Special Court itself being in the domain highly sensitive and secret, relating to affairs of State and its unpublished record, its uninhibited trial has been possible because of the declassification of the documents by the Prime Minister as Minister-in-charge of the department by his order, dated 2-10-1990 in respect of material of more recent date forming the very basis of the Reference. (ii) Such being the substance of the inquiry/trial, followed by partial waiver of privilege, the Court should in the matter of claim of privilege be guided more by the relevancy, the consistency and the nexus of such privileged material with a proper, fair and just trial than the mere fact that privilege in respect of it has been claimed. Necessarily it requires examination of such material by the Court itself. (iii) The Court should be considered the desirability of holding proceedings in camera in respect of document/material for which privilege is claimed but is not allowed, or request is made for holding the proceedings in camera and is found justified.