SHC grants Dania Shah bail in Aamir Liaquat video case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday granted conditional bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain’s widow Dania Shah in the case pertaining to uploading her husband’s obscene videos on social media.

The court directed her not to post anything on the internet, give interviews, make public statements, or directly or indirectly contact any witness in the case, and warned her that any breach of the condition will result in recalling the concession given to her.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested Dania from her house in Punjab’s Lodhran district on December 15 on the complaint of Hussain’s daughter, who accused the late lawmaker’s third wife of filming obscene videos of her father and later uploading them to social media during their separation.

The FIA has charged Dania under Section 20 (Offences against dignity of a natural person) Section 21 (Offences against modesty of a natural person and minor) and Section 24 (cyber stalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.

The applicant’s counsel said the complainant had falsely implicated his client in the case due to malice originating from inheritance claims. The assistant attorney general and the FIA’s prosecutor opposed the bail primarily on moral grounds.

After hearing the arguments, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Omar Sial said that it seemed that in the present case there was little doubt that the creator of videos might very well be Dania but evidence regarding their dissemination required further inquiry.

The bench said that according to the prosecution’s case, Dania gave an interview to a person on a social media forum, in which she acknowledged having these videos. The court said that censored versions of these videos were shown during the interview, and it was alleged that the applicant was the person who must have disseminated the videos.