Chaudry, a former minister of state for interior, was ordered by the apex court to ensure his presence during today’s proceedings, which were based on a suo motu notice on his 'anti-judiciary' remarks during a party rally in Jaranwala earlier this year.
Chaudry appeared in court today along with his counsel Kamran Murtaza.
As Justice Gulzar Ahmad read out the court's verdict, Chaudry was sentenced 'till the rising of the court' — a relatively lenient and symbolic punishment which remain until the court is in session — and fined Rs0.1 million.
Following the conviction, Chaudry, who lost the July 25 General Election from his Faisalabad constituency, will be disqualified from holding public office for five years.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa was the other member of the bench.
The court had reserved its verdict on the case on July 11.
The Supreme Court had initiated contempt proceedings against Chaudry on account of "derogatory and contemptuous speeches/statements" with regard to the court, according to a notification issued on February 2.
In his response to the contempt notice, Chaudhry had written that scandalising the court or doing anything that tended to bring the court into “hatred, ridicule or contempt” was “not even the last thing on the respondent’s mind.”
“Whatever has been said might have been taken into account without relevance to the context due to media reporting,” his response stated.
In June this year, the top court, on a similar suo motu notice, sentenced former federal privatisation minister and PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz for contempt "till rising of the court".
The contempt judgment also led to similar automatic disqualification from Parliament for five years and restrained Aziz from contesting the July 25 General Election.
A three-judge bench of the top court had taken suo motu notice of Aziz's anti-judiciary remarks in February this year.
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