Court directs FIA to register case against Cynthia Ritchie

ISLAMABAD: Additional District and Sessions Judge (ASJ) Jahangir Awan on Monday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register a case against US blogger Cynthia Ritchie who has levelled harassment allegations against the PPP leadership.

The petitioner, PPP Islamabad President Shakeel Abbasi on Saturday had filed a petition stating that Ritchie had made baseless allegations against ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a case should be registered against her.

In its two-page verdict, the court said the US blogger had not denied that she created this tweet on social media. 

"A crime has been committed falling under PECA Act 2016 and FIA is competent to investigate the matter in accordance with the law. Under the circumstances, the application is hereby accepted and FIA is directed to proceed in accordance with law, conduct on inquiry and if there is sufficient material register an FIR," the order read.

It added, “Learned counsel for the petitioner argued that through the social media the petitioner has damaged the character and popularity of the ex-prime minister of Pakistan; that the petitioner being District President of PPP is the aggrieved person; that according to PECA Act any aggrieved person can initiate proceedings: that the proposed accused/respondent has committed heinous crime under the Cyber Crime Laws: that the respondents are duty bound to proceed in accordance with law and register an FIR.”

“Benazir Bhutto, died in the year 2007 and fact there is lapse of more than 12 years in between this intervening period but the proposed accused/respondent never agitated this before any forum or Competent Authority and even not disclosed on any media. So at this stage after lapse of 12 years her disclosure to malign the character of deceased leader is apparently based upon mala-fide,” it added.

During Saturday’s hearing, Ritchie’s lawyer had asked the court not to file the case.

The FIA and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had requested the court to dismiss the plea against the US blogger.

The FIA had told the court that the petitioner was not the targeted victim or guardian of the victim so the agency could not lodge a complaint. On the other hand, the counsel for the petitioner argued that due to the nature of tweets, the PPP was the aggrieved party.

To this, the court asked why the heirs of late Benazir Bhutto were not lodging a complaint.

In her video message earlier this month, Ritchie had accused senior PPP leader Senator Rehman Malik of abusing her and said that the incident happened in 2011 when Malik was interior minister.

She had also claimed that former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin had also abused her, while former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani shook hands with him while he was in the Presidency.