ISLAMABAD: The Su­­preme Court on Friday refuted reports of a scuffle or altercation between judges, calling it “utterly false and malicious”.

The denial was issued a day after it was reported that some altercation took place between judges during their evening walk in the Judges’ Colony park on Thursday.

The announcement, issued by the Supreme Court’s public relations office, said that the misleading news was published through various social media platforms.

“The report is hereby refuted in the strongest terms. It is false, mischievous and malicious. No such incident took place.”

The denial cautioned that misreporting about judges was a serious violation of law and an effort to diminish the dignity of the court and its members.

The rumours circulated the day an eight-member bench took up a petition challenging a proposed law to curtail the powers of the chief justice and barred the government from enforcing it.

The perception of divisions among apex court judges had been strengthened by a series of letters and a judicial note written by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, questioning the conduct of the Supreme Court registrar and declaring a recent order by a six-judge Supreme Court bench ‘unconstitutional’.

Justice Isa’s order was subsequently overruled by another bench.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2023