Defamation case: hearing against ex parte decree put off

CHITRAL: A defamation case filed by a man from Garam Chashma against ChitralToday could not be taken up by the court due a strike by lawyers on Monday.

The ex parte judgment in a libel case was passed on a petition filed by a resident of Mogh. On Monday morning, attorneys of the editor and the chief reporter of the online newspaper appeared before Additional District Judge Ahmed Iftikhar.

As the lawyer of the online newspaper did not appear due to the strike, the judge ordered another date for the hearing of the matter. The court then fixed July 6 as the date of the hearing.

In the petition filed with ADJ Ahmed Iftikhar on May 15, 2017, ChitralToday counsel contended that the ex parte judgment of March 22, 2016, against his clients was passed on the basis of unserved summons sent to them on a wrong address in their absentia in their native villages in upper Chitral.