Bail plea of journalist Farhan Mallick dismissed

karachi: A local court on Friday dismissed the bail application of journalist Farhan Mallick in a case pertaining to allegedly uploading anti-state content on his YouTube channel.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq announced the order she had reserved earlier after hearing arguments from both sides, dismissing the bail plea.

She directed an additional director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), who turned up in court, to submit an inquiry report about violation of the court's order regarding jail custody of Mallick within 15 days.

Mallick, a former news director at a private TV channel, was arrested on March 20 and initially booked by the Federal Investigation Agency's Cyber Crime Reporting Centre for allegedly running a campaign by posting "anti-state videos targeting the dignitaries".

He was later booked in a second case after a judicial magistrate remanded him in judicial custody on Tuesday. He is now in the FIA custody on a five-day physical remand in the new case that pertains to alleged theft of credit card data through spoofed calls.

Earlier, defence counsel Abdul Moiz Jafferii contended that the FIA booked and obtained Mallick's physical remand in a new case in violation of the court's order that had remanded him in jail custody in the present case.

He contended that the impugned FIR accused Mallick of posting anti-state content on his YouTube channel, but it had failed to point out any specific report or video that was anti-state and violated the sections enshrined in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.