LAHORE: A city magistrate on Thursday granted four-day physical remand of an anchorperson Orya Maqbool Jan to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime wing in a case of alleged hate speech against the Chief Justice Pakistan.

The magistrate directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to complete the investigation positively and produce the suspect again on August 26.

Earlier, the IO asked for 14-day physical remand of the suspect for completion of investigation.

However, Orya’s counsel opposed the remand plea and submitted that the suspect was innocent. He said no incriminating material was available against the suspect on record and prayed to discharge the accused from the case.

The IO as well as FIA assistant director legal contested the arguments and requested for physical remand of the suspect. The magistrate observed that a specific role had been assigned to the suspect.

He also noted that sufficient incriminating material did exist on record to connect the suspect with the commission of offences.

He said the record showed that all the tweets and all the digital media evidence were available with the file.

He also mentioned that the very purpose of the remand is to investigate the suspect and collect evidence.

The magistrate in his order said, “As it is the first physical remand of the accused and sufficient incriminating material do exist on record. Hence, to complete the investigation as well as for the purpose of recovery, 4-day physical remand of the accused is hereby granted,”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024