Judge refuses to hear suspended CJ's case
A senior judge quit the 14-member bench, which was to hear into charges of misconduct against suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry.
Pakistan Supreme Court's hearing into charges of misconduct against suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry got off to a rocky start on Monday with one of the senior judges quitting the 14-member full bench.
Senior judge Falak Sher said it was not appropriate for him to continue in the bench as he had in the past challenged Chaudhry superseding him to the post.
Despite pleas from Chaudhry's defence counsel that they have absolute confidence in him, Sher refused to budge.
Justice Khalil-u-Rehman Ramday then referred the issue to acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas for a decision.
Hours before the hearing was to start, additional registrar of the Supreme Court Hamad Raza was killed apparently when dacoits raided his house in the city in the early hours.
Police said Raza was killed when he tried to resist the dacoits who had raided his house.
Sher's decision to quit the panel came even as lawyers boycotted courts all over Pakistan to protest the government's move to stop the suspended judge from addressing a lawyer's convention in Karachi last week.