Dania Shah not entitled to concession of bail, rules magistrate

An East District judicial magistrate dismissed on Friday an application of late televangelist and politician Aamir Liaquat Hussain’s widow Syeda Dania Shah seeking post-arrest bail in a case pertaining to allegedly leaking his obscene video on social media.

Shah was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at her house in Lodhran on December 15.

Magistrate Mukesh Kumar announced his verdict he had reserved after hearing arguments from both sides. He observed that the matter is at a premature stage of investigation as no report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been filed yet.

The magistrate noted that no sexually explicit videos of the late lawmaker were recovered from the possession of Shah, adding that while as per the FIA prosecutor all such videos had been deleted by the accused from her gadgets, they were widely circulated on social media. He maintained that the material collected during the investigation thus far carried into the matter apparently connected the accused with the commission of the offence.

He said the accused prima facie violated the deceased’s fundamental rights to dignity, privacy and modesty, which are inalienable rights of every person and as per the complainant’s counsel, the release of Hussain’s personal videos in public sphere was the main cause of his death.

“Indeed the offence under Section 21 of the PECA, 2016 does not come under prohibitory clause but the same is non-bailable and grant of bail in an offence falling under non-prohibitory clause is a concession/grace while refusal is exception, whereas this case particularly falls within the exception as such kind of offences destroy the image and persona of whole family in the society and further trigger grave consequences, and there is serious chance of repeating the offences and tampering with the prosecution evidence by making an influence upon the witness,” the magistrate said.

About the contention of the applicant’s lawyer that the deceased himself didn’t register any complaint in his lifetime, the magistrate said he was not convinced by such an argument as the information relating to any cognisable offence can be given by any person whosoever has such information and there is no hard and fast rule that victim him/herself has to register the complaint.

“Even otherwise, the family members of an aggrieved man can also be termed as victims as they are equally paying the price of defamation caused in the society due to an unfortunate act,” he added.

Earlier, the applicant’s lawyer Liaquat Gabol had stated that the FIA had no evidence to prove his client’s alleged involvement in recording objectionable videos of her husband and then uploading them on social media. She was the legally wedded wife of the late lawmaker and couldn’t imagine defaming or humiliating him, he added.

“Under a preplanned scheme and conspiracy, the applicant was made a scapegoat in this false case, because after the sudden death of her husband she, being a legal widow, asked for her legal share in the property left by her husband,” the counsel said. He alleged that she was implicated in the case at the behest of Hussain’s first wife Bushra in order to force her into renouncing her claim to the inherited property.

On the other hand, state prosecutor Sheeraz Rajper argued that multiple notices were issued to the accused but she didn’t bother to appear before FIA to join the investigating, adding that obscene videos of the deceased were made available and widely circulated on social media. He said there is sufficient material to connect her with the commission of the offences and pleaded with the court to reject her bail application. The complainant’s lawyer Zia Ahmed Awan, opposing the plea, stated that the accused might abscond after obtaining bail. The case was lodged under sections 20 (malicious code), 21 (cyberstalking), and 24 (legal recognition of offences committed in relation to information system) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 on the complaint of Hussain’s daughter Dua Aamir.