Cops entry into LHC premises banned

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court has made the Covid-19 related precautionary measures more stringent as a couple of staff members tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

A circular issued by Additional Registrar (judicial) Imran Safdar said the measures had been taken in the wake of wide spread of the pandemic and for the reason that recently a couple of staff members were found positive for the lethal virus. It said the entry of all police officers/officials to the high court premises will be banned completely without judicial record.

“Police officers/officials and government officials will not enter the premises of this court without law officer - advocate general, additional/assistant advocate general, prosecutor general/deputy prosecutor general concerned, etc.” the circular added. It said the entry of litigants will be also banned completely except those required to appear in person by the court. Disinfection of courts and offices in the LHC has already been increased since one of its employees tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago. Later the virus also hit a couple of employees. All departments in the LHC have already been working with limited staff attendance as a measure to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Disinfection tunnels had also been installed at entrance points of the high court while hand sanitizer had also been made available on different points on the premises. Accused of pornography bailed: The Lahore High Court on Thursday suspended sentence of a man convicted for being part of an international nexus of child pornographers and released him on bail.

A judicial magistrate on April 26, 2018 had awarded seven-year imprisonment to Saadat Amin of Sargodha under Section 22 of Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 and also imposed a fine of Rs1.2 million on him. Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell had arrested Amin on the complaint of Norwegian embassy during 2017. The prosecution said he was an active member of international racket operating online from Pakistan by engaging children having ages from 10 years to 12 years and used to transmit their pornographic pictures/videos outside the country against monetary benefit. It said more than 650,000 pictures and videos related to child pornography were recovered from the digital media recovered from his possession.

In an appeal before the high court, his counsel Rana Nadeem Ahmad argued that the investigation held by the agency was faulty as it failed to arrest or investigate the alleged foreign agent in Norway. The counsel said the appellant was behind bars since his arrest in 2017 while his main appeal against the sentence was still pending with the high court. He asked the court to suspend the sentence and release the appellant on bail as he was ready to furnish surety bonds. Justice Farooq Haider suspended the sentence and released him on bail against two surety bonds of Rs 200,000 each.