The Islamabad High Court has rejected the bail application of the accused in a case registered under PECA Act for spreading blasphemous material.
Justice Muhammad Azam Khan of the Islamabad High Court rejected the post-arrest bail application of accused Khurshid in the contempt of court case. The court issued a four-page written decision with the reasons for rejecting the bail. The FIA had registered a case under Section 11 of the PECA Act for spreading blasphemous material.
The written decision states that according to the petitioner’s lawyer, the plaintiff filed a case against the petitioner in consultation with the FIA authorities. The petitioner is not a named accused in the case, but was implicated in the case after 10 months. According to the record, blasphemous material was sent through WhatsApp from the mobile phone recovered from the accused during the investigation. According to technical analysis, blasphemous sketches, graphics and images were shared from the accused’s mobile phone.
According to the written decision, the technical analysis also revealed that blasphemy, insulting the people of the oath and insulting the Quran were shared. According to the police records, the mobile phone from which the blasphemous content was shared is registered in the name of the accused. The technical analysis report apparently proves the involvement of the petitioner in the crime. The judicial observations given in the bail case will not affect the case in the trial court. Without going into the merits of the case, the court considers that the accused is not entitled to bail at this stage.
