LHC upholds 7-year jail for child pornographer

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed the main appeal and upheld 7 years conviction handed down to a man who is part of an international gang of child pornographers.

Justice Farooq Haider dismissed the appeal after hearing arguments of the convict’s counsel and the federal government. On May 14, the same court had suspended Sadaqat Amin's sentence and ordered to release him on bail as he had undergone more than half of his 7-year jail term. However, an outcry broke out on social media against the relief granted to the convicted child pornographer as the decision was widely reported in the press. Therefore, the court fixed the main appeal and decided the same. The court had issued Sadaqat's release order on May 14 on a civil miscellaneous application seeking suspension of the sentence since the main appeal had not been decided by the court. The main appeal was filed two months after the conviction in July 2018 while the application for the suspension of the sentence was filed in June 2019. However, after dismissal of his main appeal, he would not be released from jail till the expiry of his 7-year jail term.

A source in the LHC claimed that the judge had signed the May 14 order of the bail before the social media was filled with criticism, however, the case file was not forwarded to the copy branch to frustrate issuance of Robkar (release order) of the convict till hearing of the main appeal. He said Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad had also taken notice of bail granted to the pornographer and directed the attorney general office to look into the matter.