Journalist Khalid Jamil gets bail

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad on Thursday granted bail to journalist Khalid Jamil in a case pertaining to spreading provocative narrative against the state institutions through social media platforms.

Khalid Jamil, the bureau chief of a private news channel, was taken into custody from his residence at Media Town, Islamabad Special.

Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand granted the post-arrest bail to the journalist against a surety bond of Rs50,000. On Sunday, Khalid Jamil was sent on judicial remand of 14 days in the case, while the journalist had challenged his arrest. According to the first information report (FIR), the accused was found sharing and spreading highly intimidating content on the social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter). The FIR invoked Section 505 statement conducing to public mischief of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

It also included Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). The FIR asserted that the journalist was found to cause harm to the country.