IHC dismisses Cynthia’s plea against lower court orders

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday rejected US blogger Cynthia D Ritchie's plea against a lower court’s order to the FIA to file a case against her.

Cynthia had challenged the order of additional sessions judge, Islamabad in the high court, pleading that the FIA should not register a case against her, as she had not committed any crime. In its order, the Islamabad High Court said the court could not interfere in the FIA's investigations and ordered the agency to continue its probe.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Jahangir Awan had directed the FIA to register a case against Ritchie, who has leveled harassment allegations against some PPP leaders after a public spat with the party.

Earlier, the petition against the verdict was heard by Chief Justice Athar Minallah. During the hearing, lawyer Imran Feroze Malik had read out the sessions judge’s order directing registration of a case, to which the chief justice asked how he was affected by the decision. The petitioner's counsel replied that there were other aspects to the decision.

Justice Minallah remarked that this was not an order to register a case directly, adding that the FIA had been ordered to conduct an inquiry first. Advocate Imran Feroze said the petitioner was not objecting to the inquiry but registration of the case. To this, Justice Minallah said the court would not go into the merits of this case. After hearing the arguments, the chief justice reserved the verdict.

Talking to the media outside the IHC, Ritchie said she had informed the US Embassy about what had happened to her in 2011 and was still in touch with the American Citizen Services. She alleged that the man who attacked her was a man of influence in the PPP ruling era; therefore, she could not understand the reason to inform the Pakistani officials about the incident. Ritchie she was told things about former prime minister Benazir Bhutto by the interior minister of that time, Rehman Malik.

Ritchie said her earlier social media posts, which stirred a commotion in the Pakistani politics, were not meant to malign or defame anyone; instead, her tweets were taken out of context. Earlier in a video broadcast live on Facebook, Ritchie had alleged that one of the party's senior members had raped her, while two others had "manhandled" her on a separate occasion.