SHC orders removal of objectionable material from social media

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of the province to ensure the removal of objectionable videos from the Internet, including social media, showing a Hindu teenage boy being sexually assaulted in the Sujawal district.

The directives came during a hearing of a petition of rights activist Karamat Ali and others seeking the registration of an FIR against a lawmaker’s son and other men who sodomised the boy, Prakash, in the Darro area.

The petitioners submitted that Arbab Abrahim Memon, who is the son of MNA Arbab Rameezuddin Memon from Sujawal, along with his accomplices, had sexually assaulted the boy and uploaded a video on social networking sites.

They said the incident was reported in the print and electronic media, but no action had been taken against the culprits. The court was requested to provide protection to the victim and his family and direct the police to register an FIR.

After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the high court issued notices to the additional advocate general of Sindh and other respondents and sought their comments. The court directed the SSP Sujawal to ensure that a statement of the victim was recorded within a day under Section 154 of the CrPC. The court ordered that the compliance report be filed before the next date of the hearing.

The petitioners’ counsel, Shahid Hussain Soomro, stated that the video clip having objectionable material had become viral on social media. He sought an order for its removal.

The court observed that no one could be allowed to defame and disgrace the honour and respect of any person. It directed the FIA DG to ensure that the video clip was not flashed on social media and was removed forthwith. The hearing was adjourned till April 10.

A day earlier, showing their concerns over reports of the gang rape of Prakash, civil society activists demanded of the government to immediately arrest the culprits.

Karamat Ali, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, said media reports suggested that the main culprit was the son of a local leader of a major political party and police instead of arresting him had been providing him protection and support.

He said such incidents against individuals of minority communities had created unrest among them as they were already facing different problems, including forced conversions of Hindu girls. Ali demanded of the provincial government, the police chief and the central leadership of the ruling political party to arrest all the accused and provide justice to the victim.

PPP office-bearer removed

The president of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh chapter, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, removed from office an office-bearer of Mirpur Bathoro Tehsil, Sujawal, for his alleged involvement in the incident of the illegal confinement, sexual abuse and torture of the Hindu boy.

According to a press statement, Khuhro removed the general-secretary of the party in Mirpur Bathoro, Arbab Ibrahim. The senior PPP leader took notice of the sexual violence against Parkash, and said justice would surely be done in the case of the boy who had suffered abuse, torture, and violence at the hands of influential people of the area.

SC dismisses appeal

The Supreme Court dismissed appeals of five convicts against their 10 years’ imprisonment in a Rangers’ encounter case. Ghulam Ali, Gulzar Ali, Asif, Murtaza and Nusrat were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by the trial court having found them guilty of firing on a Rangers van in Larkana in 2013.

According to the prosecution, the appellants fired on the van and injured one Rangers soldier during the shootout. They were later arrested. Rangers had also seized illegal weapons from their possession.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, after perusal of the evidence, observed that the prosecution proved its case against the appellants as one Rangers soldier was injured while two appellants were also received injuries during the shootout. The apex court dismissed the appeals and upheld the trial court and high court’s orders.