In a legal twist that sounds more like a Netflix thriller than a courtroom drama, a Pakistan national identified as Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri was recently removed as a judge at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after authorities discovered that his law credentials were fake.
Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri had held this prominent position in Pakistan’s judicial system for a significant period of 5 years before his removal and had delivered numerous judgements in his tenure.
Tariq was removed from his post by the Islamabad High Court on February 23 after the court issued a comprehensive 116-page judgment on Monday declaring Jahangiri’s law degree “void ab initio”—meaning it was invalid from the very beginning.
The controversy came to light after the Karachi University Registrar provided original records to the court. The findings revealed a long-standing pattern of chilling legal fraud, bold impersonation tactics and evasion of punishment.
According to a report by Dawn, the court found that Jahangiri’s appointment to the High Court in December 2020 was legally invalid because he never actually earned the qualifications required to practice law, let alone sit on the bench.
Tariq was appointed to the High Court in December 2020 but was barred in September last year from performing judicial duties as a judge.
Timeline of Tariq’s crimes
While his long-standing tale of legal evasion was only recently picked up by the authorities, Tariq has been practicising evading the law for roughly 38 years. As per statements and records submitted by both the Government Islamia Law College and Karachi University Registrar, Tariq has been ‘scamming’ Pakistan’s law and order procedures before he even started college.
A timeline of Tariq’s long history of fraud has been pasted below for the reader’s convenience. The investigation initiated by authorities in Pakistan traced Jahangiri’s academic history back to the late 1980s. The details revealed a bold series of fraudulent acts:
Pakistan Judge Fraud: 38-Year Timeline
The case was pushed by Advocate Mian Dawood, who argued that no one—not even a High Court judge—is above the constitutional requirement for a valid degree. For the numerous people who received judgments from Justice Jahangiri between 2020 and 2025, the news is a source of immense anxiety.
If the judge was never legally an advocate, and therefore never eligible to be a judge, do his signatures still hold weight?
What happens to cases settled by Tariq?
According to a report by Courting the law, a Pakistan based legal news portal, under Pakistani law and international legal principles, judgments delivered by a judge whose appointment is later found to be defective are typically not automatically overturned.
To prevent legal chaos and protect the rights of third parties (litigants) who acted in good faith, the law treats these decisions as valid and binding as if they were made by a legitimate (“de jure”) officer. While the judgments remain valid by default, they can be challenged under specific circumstances
Litigants may file fresh appeals or “review petitions” arguing that the judge’s lack of legal qualification specifically biased their particular case or led to a miscarriage of justice.
Delay Tactics employed by Tariq
Following the case investigating Tariq’s background, the Islamabad High Court also noted its disappointment with meek delay tactics employed by Tariq during the proceedings. Despite being given multiple opportunities to defend himself, Jahangiri failed to produce any original documents or a written reply. Instead, he attempted to stall the proceedings through several legal maneuvers.
Tariq’s submissions to the high court included requesting a full bench to hear the case and even a demand for the recusal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. During the proceedings, the former ‘judge’ at IHC also attempted to argue in favour of an indefinite adjournment of his case by citing pending cases in the Sindh High Court.
The IHC bench dismissed these moves as “dilatory tactics.” The court stated that since the petitioner had provided clear evidence of fraud, the burden of proof shifted to Jahangiri to prove his qualifications, a task he could not complete.