ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the audio and video clip in which a PPP leader from Sindh, Masoodur Rehman, was shown making indecent and disrespectful outburst against Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed was genuine without any editing and still in circulation on social media.

“The audio and video in which Masoo­dur Rehman has made indecent and disrespectful remarks about the Hon’able Chief Justice of Pakistan is genuine and no editing has been made in the video/audio file,” said a report submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing to the Supreme Court.

The report was filed in response to the June 22 directive of a four-judge Supreme Court bench that had initiated contempt of court proceedings against the PPP leader over the video clip.

The SC bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, had ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the FIA to furnish all the record, data and information in respect of the speech made by the suspect, stated to be secretary general of the local PPP chapter, from constituency PS-114, Karachi West.

FIA says the file, still being shared on social media, did not undergo any editing

The bench will resume hearing in the case on Monday (June 28).

The FIA report explained that to check the authenticity of the audio-video of the accused, a request was sent to the Digital Forensic Lab, Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) Headquarters, to conduct a forensic analysis of the video clip.

In response, the report said, the digital forensic laboratory concluded that the video speech of the accused was searched on internet and was found available on different social media websites. The video duration is two minutes and 15 seconds, which was uploaded first on Facebook and later posted by different people on different platforms, including YouTube, on a number of times.

The report explained that different Facebook accounts on which the video clip was uploaded have been preserved and the data request would be initiated after obtaining the court orders.

The FIA also submitted the complete transcript of the video to the Supreme Court, in addition to complete personal details of the accused.

At the last hearing on Tuesday, the Sup­r­eme Court had issued a show-cause notice to the accused under Article 204 of the Cons­titution, read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, asking why he may not be proceeded against and punished in accordance with the law.

The court order had also required the accused to furnish his reply in response to the contempt charge for his derogatory and scandalous outburst which prima facie amounts to blatant remarks and constitute the contempt of court.

The order also required that the IGP of Sindh should ensure service of the contempt notice on the accused and that he appeared before the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had in a meeting demanded stern action against the false accusations made by the culprit in the video clip and also called upon the federal government and its associated law enforcement agencies to arrest the culprit and put him behind bars so that he could be made an example for the public at large in such a manner that no one dares to repeat this vulgarism ever against the judges.

The SCBA also demanded necessary steps at the earliest to remove the video clip from social media and take other steps for the safety and security of judges and their families.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2021