23/07/2019
2018 P Cr
2018 P Cr. L J 1133
[Lahore (Multan Bench)]
Before Muhammad Qasim Khan, J
MUHAMMAD AYOUBPetitioner
Versus
FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Islamabad and 6 others
Respondents
Writ Petition No. 2553 of 2017, decided on 7th April, 2017.
(a) Constitution of Pakistan
Art. 5Commission of crimeState responsibilityScopeWhen an act is declared to be an offence, it
is responsibility of the State to adopt all legal measures firstly to prevent such crime and secondly if offence
has been committed then bring the culprits to book, put them before the Court for ultimate decision
Provisions of Art. 5 of the Constitution deals with loyalty to State and obedience to the Constitution and law
Constitutional duty of State functionaries to perform their duties to curb crimes as defined in statutes of the
country.
(b) Constitution of Pakistan
Arts. 19 & 19APenal Code (XLV of 1860), S. 295CFreedom of speechExtentReligious
feelings, hurting ofGrievance of petitioner was that some accounts on social media Facebook were
uploading inflammatory and blasphemous material, which accounts required to be proceeded against
ValidityRights of every community were delicately balanced and freedom of speech/expression and
information was also hallmark of the ConstitutionTerm 'right of expression' could not be stretched to such
an extent that it could be used as a tool to defy religious thoughts or sacred personalities of one's religion
Right of expression could be allowed to thwart feelings of any religion on earth, because as a matter fact
distortion of any religion on the pretext of right of speech /expression or information amounted to another
form of terrorism and such was a fact that international community must concedeIf authorities could not
succeed to remove blasphemous content, as required by the Constitution and other laws applicable in the
country, all such accounts or even the information system involved in pointed nefarious activities would be
blocked at once as undertaken by Director General Pakistan Telecommunication AuthorityHigh Court
directed that a Bill should be tabled before the Parliament for deliberations and decision about amendment in
S. 37 of Prosecution of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 ("PECA") to authorize PTA to block information system
in case service providers failed to remove blasphemous content; that procedure for right of appeal, revision,
review be provided to the individuals or the system operators whose accounts, pages or systems were blocked
by the authorities; that where in S. 9 of PECA, punishment for offences relating to terrorism, proscribed
organizations, etc. had been provided, punishment of Ss. 295 to 295C, P.P.C. may also be introduced; that
rules be framed under PECA, which were though required, yet had not been framed; that the Government
shall adopt all necessary measures for enhancing technical expertise and equipments of PTA authorities; and
that since the annexures of the present writ petition carried material which was totally against Islamic faith
and belief, the same could not be made public, as such, the same shall be sealed by the Deputy Registrar
(Judicial), so that no one could have access to it or could even get its certified copies, except with specific
approval of the Court.
Zulfiqar Ali Sidhu, Sher Zaman Qureshi, Waseem Mumtaz, Hafiz Allah Ditta Kashif, Ch. Salamat Ali
Wains, Syed Athar Hassan Bokhari and Rana Miraj Khalid for Petitioner.
Najaf Ali Malik, Assistant Attorney General with Nisar Ahmad Director General IP&WA PTA,
Khuram Siddiqui, Director Law PTA, Muhammad Naeem Ashraf, AHC (Consultant Law PTA) and
Faheem Gul, Assistant Director Law for Federation.
Madam Ameena Sohail, Member Legal MIOT.
https://www.pakistanlawsite.com/Login/PrintCaseLaw?caseName=2018L3050
1/8