ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday nullified the order of justice of peace for registration of first information report (FIR) against AJK Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the case and also directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to continue its inquiry into the matter pertaining to harassing a citizen.
During the hearing, no one appeared on behalf of plaintiff Khawaja Faheem while deputy Attorney General Syed Tayyab Shah adopted before the bench that justice of peace had ordered for registration of the FIR against Sardar Tanveer Ilyas. He said that the allegation levelled by the complainant regarding the controversial video did not come as crime under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.
He added that the justice of peace had no powers to directly order FIA for registration of an FIR and it was necessary to conduct inquiry regarding the allegation under FIA law.
Shah further said that the FIR could be registered only in light of inquiry report. At this, the IHC Chief Justice remarked that it seemed that the FIA had prepared report in favour of the accused. The DAG argued that the federation was implementing this court’s directives given in other identical cases.
After hearing the arguments, the court nullified the decision of justice of peace and instructed the FIA to take action under its law after completing its inquiry.
Earlier, a citizen had accused the senior minister for harassing him through a controversial video and approached justice of peace for registration of FIR. Then, an Islamabad sessions court ordered the filing of a first information report (FIR) against Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for harassing the man via WhatsApp and sending him “sexually explicit videos.”
Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani issued the orders while hearing a petition filed by complainant Khawaja Faheem. The petitioner’s counsel Imran Feroz Malik claimed that his client met Ilyas at the Centaurus Mall in October 2019 during the inauguration of a private project. Following that, Ilyas — who, according to the petitioner, owns Centaurus Mall — invited him to his home for Iftar dinner, which Faheem accepted because he thought it was a business meeting.
After the meeting, Ilyas sent a few messages along with “sexually explicit videos” to Faheem from his WhatsApp number, which the latter found disturbing, and which caused him “mental agony and trauma,” according to his lawyer.
As a result, Faheem’s lawyer said, he reported the incident to the FIA’s Cyber Crime Cell. After the case was taken to the sessions court by the complainant, the FIA submitted its reply, saying the forensic analysis was conducted on the mobile phone of the petitioner and it transpired he had in fact received the video.
After submission of the forensic report by the FIA, the court issued an order on July 6, asking the agency to register an FIR “without further delay.” In his order, the judge noted that “despite the forensic report, the FIA did not initiate proceedings on flimsy grounds that the inquiry is underway.”
The court also directed police to take action against the petitioner as per law if the information provided by him was found false.