ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a contempt notice to the director operations of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing for “exceeding authority” during a raid at the residence of journalist Mohsin Baig in Islamabad last week and asked him to submit his response.
The notice was issued by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah while hearing a petition filed by Baig’s wife seeking quashing of the first information report against her husband.
Baig had accused the prime minister of “showing favouritism” by granting an award to Saeed, with whom he has “a close friendship”.
Baig has been named in two cases — one registered with the FIA and the other with Margalla police.
The first case was registered at the FIA’s cyber crime reporting centre in Lahore on Saeed’s complaint about his “character assassination” during NewsOne talk show G for Gharidah, in which Baig was one of the panelists.
During the hearing today, the court summoned FIA Director Cyber Crime Wing Babar Bakht Qureshi, following which he appeared before the court.
Justice Minallah grilled the FIA director, reminding him that the court had told the agency to not make arrests. “This court will take action against you. Your job is to protect people and not to restore the reputation of an elite person,” the IHC chief justice remarked.
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The FIA director read out the contents of the FIR on the directions of the court. Justice Minallah asked Qureshi whether the complainant had himself shared a video of the TV programme.
“The FIA reserves the right to act against anyone under the law,” the Cyber Crime Wing director responded, to which the judge asked whether the FIA was above the law.
The FIA had on Feb 16 raided Baig’s residence in Islamabad and arrested him after he allegedly shot at and roughed up members of the raiding team. The raid was conducted following a complaint lodged by Communications Minister Murad Saeed who contended that his reputation was “tarnished” by Baig during a TV show.
