Lahore court approves Orya Maqbool’s 4-day physical remand over posts on Mubarak Sani case

A Lahore district court on Thursday handed over anchorperson Orya Maqbool Jan to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a four-day physical remand for his social media posts related to the Mubarak Sani case.

Jan was arrested by the FIA’s cybercrime wing and detained in its Gulberg office in Lahore earlier today, his lawyer confirmed, adding that he would be presented later in court today.

During the hearing, the FIA requested the judicial magistrate for a 14-day physical remand of the anchorperson.

Jan’s lawyer, Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq, however, argued that his client had not insulted anyone and a “false and baseless claim” had been registered against him by the FIA.

The lawyer added that the agency had no evidence for their claim and called for the court to discharge his client from the case.

The FIA investigation officer (IO), on the other hand, stated that the allegations against Jan were true and that the anchorperson was not cooperating during the investigation.

“We have concrete evidence,” the IO said.

The anchorperson, after coming to the rostrum, said that he had sent the FIA all the passwords of his social media accounts.

“Have I stolen someone’s car that needs to be recovered,” he said.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Judicial Magistrate Imran Abid approved a four-day remand for the anchorperson and ordered the IO to submit an investigation report.

On February 6, a two-judge Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, overturned the conviction of Mubarak Sani, who was accused of an offence in 2019 under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act.

In its judgement, the court noted that the offence that the defendant had been accused of was not criminalised till 2021. Consequently, the apex court set aside the conviction and ordered the immediate release of the petitioner.

This led to what the government and the legal community termed a “malicious and slanderous campaign” against the CJP, even prompting the Supreme Court to issue a clarification.

The decision was subsequently challenged by the Punjab government on the grounds that paragraph 9 of the order, regarding Article 20 of the Constitution, needed to be modified as the rights of the citizens as envisaged under the provision were not absolute and instead subject to law, public order, and morality.

Various groups, including religio-political parties, have voiced their objections by carrying out rallies and even breaching the apex court’s security as they held protests.