The court directed the SHO Margalla Police Station to lodge an FIR against the private channel.It merits mentioning here that District Bar Islamabad President, Advocate Kayani and Rao Abdur Raheem had challenged the verdict of the Justice of Peace Islamabad in the IHC. The verdict asked for the cancellation of the petition that advocated for rejecting a case against the private TV channel for committing blasphemy. The Justice of Peace had said in its verdict that presenting a ‘Manqabat’ in a TV programme was not a cognisable crime.

On the other side, admitting to hear a petition against Geo TV, it was observed that prima facie, the cognisable crime had been committed. The petitioners held before the court that giving different observations on two petitions of one and the same kind was incorrect. If details of the petition carried the impression of a cognisable crime, the Justice of Peace did not have the prerogative of conducting the probe before issuing the directives for registering the case. That is why the observation that presentation of a ‘Manqabat’ in a programme was not a cognisable crime, transgressed the limits.

IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Kaasi, in the verdict, gave a reference of a case having the title, Muhammad Bashir (PLD 2007 SC 539) in which it was stated that according to the Section 22-A(6) of the Penal Code, the Justice of Peace had got the prerogative to analyse that the information presented came under the category of a cognisable crime or not, and if cognisable crime was applicable, directives should be issued for registering an FIR.

The probe into validity of the information or its correction does not come under the jurisdiction of the Justice of Peace.The court has said in its judgment that the allegations levelled by the petitioners, in prima facie, fall under the category of cognisable crime, therefore, the SHO Margalla Police Station is being directed to ensure implementation under Section 154 of the Penal Code.

The News

The District Bar Association, Islamabad, has challenged dismissal of their application against the TV channel for blasphemy in the IHC. On Monday, CJ Anwar Kasi accepted the Bar’s application.

During the hearing, Bar president Nasir Ahmed Kayani and others were present in the courtroom while lawyer Raja Khalid Mehmood representedthe government. Kayani argued that additional district and sessions judge, justice of peace, Muhammad Jahangir Awan, had ordered FIR against Geo TV and not against ARY TV on the Bar’s application against blasphemy committed by the both. He appealed that the court should order Margalla Police Station to lodge the FIR against the private TV channel.

Standing Council Raja Khalid Mehmood contended that a channel aired blasphemous content once and then apologised but the other channel aired the same repeatedly. After completion of arguments, the court reserved the short order for a while before announcing it. It may be mentioned that the Bar moved court for registration of cases against TV channels after the police refused to lodge the cases.

The News