ISLAMABAD, (DNA) – The Supreme Court on Thursday found Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Tallal Chaudry guilty of violating Article 204 of the Constitution by giving scandalous remarks against judiciary.

The former state interior minister, who recently faced upset defeat in General Elections 2018, had been ordered by the apex court to ensure his presence in the court when the ruling will be announced. The court had reserved the verdict last month on July 11.

Chaudry appeared in court today along with his counsel Kamran Murtaza where Justice Gulzar Ahmad read out the court’s verdict.

Chaudry was sentenced ’till the rising f the court’ — a lenient, symbolic punishment by the court instead of a jail sentence — and a fine of Rs100,000 was also imposed on him. Following the conviction, Chaudry will be disqualified from holding public office for five years.

The top 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 wrote that scandalizing the court or doing anything that tends to bring the court into ‘hatred, ridicule or contempt’ is ‘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,” states the response.

“There is no allegation on the answering respondent that any action or conduct of the answering respondent tends to prejudice the determination of a matter pending before the court.”

Earlier, the top court had disqualified Nehal Hashmi as well as Danyal Aziz from holding public office for five years.