ISLAMABAD   -   Judge Dr Mumtaz Hanjra of Judicial Complex Rawalpindi dropped the FIR filed against The Nation crime reporter Israr A. Rajpoot and or­dered to release him from court on Monday. The judge wrote in the order that, application under section 153-A PPC can be filed by a private person or independent complainant and FIR can be filed by the order of provincial or fed­eral government. The FIR against Mr. Rajpoot was filed by DFC of police station. The Judge further said that the accused is a journal­ist and he admitted his mistake and deleted the alleged tweet. Moreover, there’s no mans rea found on behalf of the accused and I.O. of the police has admit­ted that tweet was deleted. An FIR was registered against Israr Rajpoot on Sunday last at the po­lice station Pirwadhai, Rawalpin­di under section 153-A PPC that is non-bailable and can award im­prisonment upto 5 years for in­citing religious hatred in soci­ety. Israr Rajpoot was accused of posting a tweet on X which, ac­cording to the police, incited sec­tarianism and created law and order situation in the area. The tweet was deleted after 20 min­utes. When Israr Rajpoot was produced in the court on Monday, I.O. Wajid of Punjab Police sought his 14-day judicial remand from the court since they’ve already captured Mr. Rajpoot’s cell phone during initial arrest. When the judge read the FIR, he asked Mr. Rajpoot, are you spreading fake news to which Mr. Rajpoot re­plied it was a mistake. Advocate Masood Shah, lawyer of Israr Ra­jpoot, argued before the court that there was misunderstanding and this FIR can’t be registered by DFC of a police station. I.O. Wa­jid admitted in the court that he follows Israr Rajpoot on X and he saw the tweet by the accused which was later deleted.