QUETTA: The controversial Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Ordinance 2022 was also challenged on Monday in the Balochistan High Court (BHC) jointly by the Balochistan Bar Council and Balochistan Union of Journalists.
The court accepted the petition and issued notices to the attorney general of Pakistan, asking the federal government to submit a reply within two weeks.
On February 20, President Arif Alvi promulgated the ordinance making online public defamation a cognizable and a non-bailable offense while increasing the jail term for defamation of any person or institution from three years to five years.
Before the ordinance came into effect, Section 20, which pertains to the registration of complaints against individuals by aggrieved parties over defamation, was a boilable and non-criminal offense.
Subsequently, the bar councils and media bodies moved the high courts against the law and in a subsequent order, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) barred the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting anyone under Section 20 of PECA.
The media professionals are observing a ‘black day today on the call of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). In a statement announcing the black day, the union had termed the law draconian and said it would not accept any law gagging media.
