December 13, 2024
Staff Report
LAHORE
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted bail to eight individuals who were arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on charges of blasphemy. The single-member bench of Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro had announced the verdict on December 11, concluding that the accused were trapped in the blasphemy charges and that FIA had failed to unearth the scheme behind it.
However, as a result of the bails being granted, the judge has been facing a slew of hate.
According to details, the accused were implicated in multiple FIRs filed by different complainants, all containing identical allegations. The FIRs stated that the “unknown accused using different names were operating WhatsApp groups to disseminate blasphemous material, including images, sketches, graphics, pictures, and videos, which violated the honour of Almighty Allah, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Quran, Ummat-ul-Momineen, and Sahaba-e-Karaam.”
Justice Kalhoro, in his order, said that the record showed that several applicants were not named in the FIR, and that it was only through an inquiry or investigation that they were identified based on possession of mobile phones and sims.
“The record does not reflect that the recovered material has been subjected to a forensic examination by a third party. The challans in these cases show that the examination of all the seized digital equipment has been carried out by a technical assistant of FIA, CCRC Karachi, and till submission of the challan, the digital forensic analysis report from digital forensic lab had not been received and was awaited,” the order said.
The order added that since the entire evidence against applicants was based on documents and on the recovery of mobile phones and SIMs found to be involved in sharing blasphemous contents, there was no chance that applicants could tamper with prosecution evidence.
The court also noted that FIA officials have admitted that the original creator of such contents has neither been identified nor the original source of such material.
The court criticized the FIA for its limited investigation into the issue.
“It is prima facie clear that the investigation of the FIA is restricted to only one aspect of the case, i.e. recovery of mobile phones using alleged WhatsApp groups by the applicants. The scheme and object behind the alleged offence i.e. getting different Pakistani youths involved therein has neither been identified by FIA nor any attempt has been made by it to go deep and dug out the actual devil behind it”, the order read.
It added that The FIA has condescended to remain complacent over the optics only and has nabbed, so far, immature youths found taking interest in watching lucid websites. Nothing otherwise has been brought on record to outweigh obtaining opinion in the circumstances that FIA in this case has shirked its duty and has failed to track the actual obnoxious plan behind the whole scheme and the actual actors getting the young ones trapped in such activities.
The court also noted that these kinds of FIRs were registered in the past by the FIA and the accused were arrested but later granted bail.
Hate Campaign Against the Judge
Following the verdict, an online hate campaign reportedly led by religious groups emerged, inciting violence against Justice Kalhoro. WhatsApp messages, Facebook screenshots, and posts on X (formerly Twitter), seen by Voicepk, accused the judge of siding with alleged blasphemers and urged the public to “teach him a lesson.”
Voicepk reached out to Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar for his comments on the hate campaign but received no response despite repeated attempts. Similarly, the Sindh High Court Bar Association declined to comment, even after being shown evidence of the campaign.
‘Blasphemy Business in Pakistan’
Earlier, national and international media reported that around 400 young men and women had been honey-trapped by a group allegedly led by clerics. These individuals were booked by the FIA, with many incarcerated for months.
In its exclusive documentary Exposing the Blasphemy Business in Pakistan, Voicepk investigated these allegations, interviewing victims’ families and reviewing evidence. The findings suggested that a single individual had registered multiple blasphemy FIRs against unnamed youth.
A father of one accused individual, speaking anonymously, described the gang’s modus operandi. “These youth are lured via Facebook pages into befriending women and then encouraged to switch to WhatsApp. The women would send explicit images with holy scriptures or blasphemous content. When the victim questioned the material, the woman pretended ignorance and blocked him, setting him up for sharing blasphemous content.”
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) acknowledged these tactics in its report, stating, “Young men were targeted using female operatives under pseudonyms, entrapping them in blasphemous activities online, which led to their arrests.”
The NCHR report further highlighted procedural violations, noting that “arrests were often carried out by private individuals rather than law enforcement, and there were disturbing reports of torture during and after apprehension. Detainees’ written statements were frequently obtained under duress, compromising their legitimacy.”