The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the apology of televangelist and lawmaker Aamir Liaquat Hussain and dismissed the contempt of court case initiated against him for violating earlier undertakings regarding not to use hate speech or derogatory language against individuals, including media persons.

A three-member bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar concluded the case after Hussain placed himself at the mercy of the court. The court accepted his unconditional apology.

Earlier, when Hussain appeared before the court he said that his lawyer was not present after which CJP Nisar asked him to call his lawyer as they would hear the case today. Following a break, the hearing was resumed.

On November 7, the apex court rejected Hussain's unconditional apology and indicted him under Article 204 of the Constitution.

The apex court was seized with a set of petitions moved by anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada, Independent Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, Mir Ibrahim-ur-Rehman and Najam Aziz Sethi that accused Hussain of flouting the March 28, 2017, order restraining him from carrying out defamatory campaigns and conducting television shows in an unethical manner.

The objectionable content in question were aired on the Bol TV programme “Aisay Nahi Chalay Ga” on March 9 last year.

Earlier, the SC had also imposed a fine of Rs20,000 on Hussain for his absence when the case was taken up and directed that the amount of the fine be deposited in the account of the SC-created Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams fund.

The charges stated that the parliamentarian was found guilty of committing the contempt of the court within the meaning of Article 204 of the Constitution, read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003, punishable under Section 5 of the ordinance whose offence was cognizable by the apex court.

The petitioners, represented by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, earlier contended that 13 orders had been passed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and even bans had been slapped on Hussain on a number of times, but all in vain, adding that he should be dealt with sternly for the breach of his earlier undertakings.

They had requested the apex court to initiate contempt of court proceedings under Article 204 of the Constitution and under provisions of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003.