Reply sought in petition against video sharing by Swabi DC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the director of the Performance Management Reforms Unit (PMRU) regarding a petition filed against the Swabi deputy commissioner for sharing a video of an event at Women University, Swabi, on social media.

A bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal heard the petition filed by Muhammad Hamdan advocate.The petitioner informed the court that DC of Swabi had recorded videos at various programmes and shared them on TikTok using his personal account instead of an official government platform.

He pleaded that while the government had permitted the use of social media for official communication, officials were now creating TikTok videos and sharing them without prior approval, which affected the privacy of many people.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali inquired, “Where was the TikTok video recorded?” The court was informed that the DC attended a ceremony at Women University, Swabi, and recorded a video there, which was then shared on his personal account without the consent of the participants. Female students from the university were seen in the video.

The lawyer argued that government officials were only permitted to use official websites and platforms. At this point, Justice Arshad Ali asked whether any representative from the relevant department was present.

The additional advocate general responded that no one from the department was present.Justice Arshad Ali remarked, “What are they doing? They’ve created personal pages for self-promotion. They’re using social media to promote themselves.” The court then directed that a relevant officer be summoned and adjourned the hearing for a break.

After the break, the deputy director of PMRU appeared before the court.Justice Arshad Ali asked him whether the department had issued a notification on the basis of which every officer had now created a personal account and was sharing various content.

The court directed PMRU to establish Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and submit a detailed report.Justice Arshad Ali also mentioned a recent case in which a district police officer used inappropriate language about civil judges. He said that official work should only be conducted through official accounts, and this must be included in the SOPs. “We are monitoring everything,” he added.

The court remarked that sensitive content such as videos of university female students should not be shared on social media. The court directed PMRU to submit its report within 10 days and adjourned further hearing until July 10, 2025.