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Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 62‑R of 1983, decided on .19th December, 1983.

----Art. 204‑Contempt of Court‑Accused forging and fabricating document of Supreme Court for purpose of obtaining wrongful gain‑ Held, accused was guilty of contempt of Court and abused process of Court by forging and fabricating order of Supreme Court and scandalized same‑Accused sentenced to three months' simple imprison ment with fine of Rs. 5,000.‑[Contempt of Court].

Bashir Ahmad Ansari, Advocate Supreme Court and M. A. Siddiqi, Advo cate‑on‑Record for the Contemner.

Date of hearing : 19th December, 1983.

In the third week of November, 198 , it was brought to notice of this Court that the respondent Muhammad Ayub Khan supplied a photo‑copy of an order to Major Muhammad Amin GSO‑11, N.C.C., Government Degree College, Jaranwala. District Faisalabad purported to have been made by this Court in Civil Petition No. 664 of 1932 in order to make him believe that he (Muhammad Ayub Khan) was making efforts to get him some land allotted in District Bhakkar.

On a scrutiny being made in the Registry of this Court it was found that the aforesaid photo‑copy of the order was a fabricated document and a complete forgery. Consequently, the Registrar of this Court was directed to make an inquiry into the matter and submit his report.

The respondent, Muhammad Ayub Khan, appeared before the Registrar, in connection with the enquiry which he was directed to make and before him he admitted that the photo‑copy in question was given to Major Muhammad Amin by him but he further alleged that the said photo‑copy was supplied to him by one Fazal Elahi, resident of District Bhakkar.

Accordingly, summons were issued to Fazal Elahi on the address supplied by the respondent but the person, who appeared in response to the summons was not the person named by the respondent. The respondents thereafter sought time to produce the correct Fazal Elahi who allegedly had supplied the photo‑copy of the order of this Court to him, but he was not able to do so. It, therefore, appeared that the name of Fazal Elahi as the person who had supplied the photo‑copy to him was falsely given by him whereas, in reality, it was he himself who was responsible for forging the order of the Court, presumably for wrongful gain. He was, therefore, issued a notice to show cause why he should not be punished for committing contempt of this Court.

The respondent has appeared before us along with Mr. Bashir Ahmad Ansari, Advocate, today and his learned counsel has reiterated the stand that was taken by the respondent before the Registrar, namely, that the forged and fabricated photo‑copy of this Court's order was, in fact, supplied to him by Fazal Elahi and that he had innocently passed it one to Major Muhammad Amin. It was further submitted that Fazal Elahi had, in the meantime left Pakistan and gone to Saudi Arabia and was living in Jedda and that efforts had been made to contact him both by the respondent himself, as also through Pakistan Embassy at Jedda but without success. According to the submission of the learned counsel, the respondent is merely an innocent victim of the wrong doing of Fazal Elahi, aforesaid.

There is no dispute that the photo‑copy of the forged and fabricated document of this Court was supplied by the respondent to Major Muhammad Amin. He has tried to absolve himself of the blame by pleading that it was somebody else, namely, Fazal Elahi who had given the said copy to him. However, he has failed to establish this fact and we cannot, therefore, accept the story that the photo‑copy of the forged and fabricated document of this Court's order was prepared by him, which was later on handed over to Major Muhammad Amin, presumably for a purpose of obtaining some wrongful gain.

We are, therefore, of the opinion that the contemner has grossly abused' the process of the Court by forging and fabricating the order of this Court and has scandalised it.

We, accordingly, convict him for having committed contempt of this Court and sentence him to three months' simple imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000. In lieu of payment of fine he shall suffer further simple imprisonment for one month.

M.Z M. Order accordingly.

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