Ex-major denied bail in cybercrime case

PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench on Friday dismissed the bail petition of a former army officer charged under the cybercrime law for allegedly uploading fake objectionable pictures of a woman MPA on social media.
Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth pronounced that the suspect, retired major Mohammad Tahir Khan, was not entitled to be set free on bail.
Held by the Federal Investigation Agency in February, the suspect is currently behind bars on judicial remand.
The complainant in the case was PML-N MPA Sobia Shahid, who had formally informed the FIA about the uploading of her fake photographs by the suspect on fake Facebook accounts.
The FIA investigation revealed that the suspect had created the fake Facebook accounts in question.
The suspect was later charged under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, commonly known as the cybercrime law.
Ameenur Rehman, lawyer for the complainant, said the petitioner was involved in the reported offence for around two years as clearly shown by the evidence on record.
He said the FIA had raided the petitioner’s house in Nowshera and seized his computer, hard disc and other related items, whose forensic examination proved their use in the crime.
The lawyer said the petitioner was a habitual criminal as around eight other FIRs were registered against him for several offences, including forgery.
He added that the petitioner was involved in a heinous offence and therefore, he didn’t deserve leniency.
The lawyer said his client had acquaintance with the petitioner but didn’t know he was involved in the offence against her and therefore, she had lodged a complaint against unidentified people.
He said the investigation revealed that the petitioner was involved in the uploading of fake objectionable pictures of his client on social media.
The lawyer claimed that the petitioner had received money from his client on pretext of tracing the culprits.
However, the counsel for the petitioner claimed his client was falsely implicated in the case and that he was innocent.
He added that the offence for which his client was booked carried the punishment of up to five years imprisonment and so, it didn’t fall in the prohibitory clause of Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and thus, giving him the right to get bail in the case.
Source: Dawn