LAHORE: Appearing before the Lahore High Court on Thursday, a top official of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) apprised that at least eight accused had been arrested for running a derogatory social media campaign against Chief Justice Aalia Neelum and other judges of the High Court.
The NCCIA Director General Syed Khurram Ali appeared in person and submitted a detailed report on the social media campaign against the judges saying the agency was making its utmost to identify and apprehend individuals involved in campaigns intended to malign the judiciary. He submitted the NCCIA had already compiled a list of the persons involved in such nefarious and unlawful activities and that all necessary steps were being taken to bring the perpetrators to book in accordance with law.
He assured the court that the matter was being pursued with due seriousness and urgency. A bench comprising Justice Ali Zia Bajwa was hearing a petition of a lawyer, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi Bhaddar who invoked the LHC jurisdiction,, challenging the campaign on social media against the female judges of the High Court. During the hearing, federation counsel informed the bench the petitioner had not provided them with the USB containing evidence against the suspects. However, the petitioner’ counsel Advocate Mian Dawood rejected the claim, saying he had provided the complete record and evidence to the NCCIA in the matter for investigation.
To which the court directed the lawyer to submit a USB containing evidence to the court as well. Mian Dawood also pointed out that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had neither blocked any channel nor any website. Responding to the information, counsel for PTA submitted that as many as 53 institutions were authorised to use the PTA portal themselves to remove objectionable content. Addressing to the PTA counsel, the Judge asked whether the PTA is not competent to take action on it own – how was X (formerly Twitter) blocked on its own?.
The PTA counsel apprised the Authority had blocked X on the directions of the interior ministry saying most of the institutions in the country purchase and use Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to access the blocked websites. Justice Ali Zia Bajwa directed the PTA to block the accounts , the NCCIA has identified from where objectionable content have been shared to social media. The PTA’s counsel stated that Facebook and X are secure applications. He submitted the PTA cannot block specific links as it can only block an entire application or website. Justice Bajwa observed if a person abroad creates and shares ‘objectionable’ content, an action can still be taken against them in Pakistan.
The judge directed the PTA to trace the sources from where the videos were being uploaded and proceed in accordance with the law. The petitioner’s counsel argued that action should first be taken against those sharing ‘objectionable’ content while sitting abroad. A deputy attorney general told the court that a total of 170 accounts had been identified as being involved in sharing ‘objectionable’ content. He said 14 suspects have been traced through Nadra and three cases registered in Lahore and five in Multan against persons involved in sharing objectionable content on social media against the judges.
In his written order, Justice Bajwa observed that a judge or a judicial pronouncement may be subjected to academic, professional or public scrutiny, provided such criticism is made in good faith, expressed in temperate language and confined to the reasoning or legal conclusions of the judgment. However, he ruled, where criticism crosses the bounds of propriety by imputing motives, bias, dishonesty or lack of integrity to a judge or is calculated to weaken public confidence in the administration of justice, it ceases to be protected speech and attracts legal consequences.
“Criticism intended to correct judicial errors is permissible, whereas criticism that corrodes the authority and independence of the courts cannot be countenanced,” the judge maintained. Justice Bajwa ordered the law-enforcement authorities to employ their utmost efforts, strictly in accordance with law, to identify and curb elements responsible for maligning or defaming the judiciary and for weakening public confidence in the administration of justice.
“Such action, however, must be regulatory and corrective in nature, and not vindictive or retaliatory, ensuring at all times that legitimate freedom of expression is neither stifled nor chilled,” he reminded the authorities. The judge clarified that the object of such enforcement was not to silence fair criticism, but to preserve the dignity, independence and authority of the courts through lawful, proportionate and restrained measures consistent with constitutional guarantees.
REPORT: The report filed by the NCCIA revealed that at least eight suspects have been arrested from different cities of Punjab following registration of FIRs.Those arrested include Iftikhar Mehmood Chaudhry by Islamabad circle, Rana Sarwar and Shahbaz Amin by Lahore circle, Muhammad Ali, Rana Khalid Hussain, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Ali Bhutta and Abdul Sattar by Multan circle.
The report further revealed that NCCIA-Lahore circle registered an FIR against a YouTube channel “Siyasi Dera” hosted by Ihsanullah Chattha, known as “Mitha Gee” for being involved in the dissemination of derogatory and defamatory content against the judges. Chattha is famous for creating pro-PML-N content on social media. The FIR was registered on a complaint of a lawyer, Akmal Khan. The report stated that images of 30 social media account holders, involved in the derogatory campaign, have been sent to the Nadra for facial recognition.
