LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Friday expre­ssed her deep displeasure over the failure of authorities to remove a viral video, based on ‘misinformation’ about an alleged rape involving a female student of a private college, from social media.

“Why wasn’t the viral video stopped from circulating on social media,” the chief justice asked Ins­pector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Dr Usman Anwar during the hearing of a petition against incidents of alleged harassment of female students in educational institutions.

Considering the sensitivity of the circumstances, the chief justice formed a full bench to further proceed with the matters including the incidents of alleged harassment at the institutions and fake lea­ked video of Punjab Info­rma­tion Minister Azma Bokhari.

When she remarked that removing the video from social media would have only taken half an hour, the IGP said action was taken, but it wasn’t within their (police) dom­ain to delete a video from going viral, as this responsibility lies with the PTA.

He explained that the video in question went viral on Oct 13 and 14, and the Counter Terrorism Department was assigned the task of identifying 114 social media accounts which shared it.

Chief Justice Neelum observed that the police must account for what they did during those two days, questioning delayed action only after the situation worsened.

Dr Anwar stated that a specialised team formed on the matter explored various social media platforms to identify and apprehend the individuals accountable for orchestrating the malicious smear campaign.

He said the PTA, on the request of FIA, blocked 38 social media accounts including 12 on Facebook, 19 on X, 12 on Instagram, and six on TikTok.

Advocate General of Punjab Khalid Ishaq told the court that malicious social media campaigns had been initiated based on fake information as no incident of sexual assault had taken place.

He stated that there was extreme disinformation, saying the basement of the private college was an open hall with complete CCTV footage available, and no such incident occurred. He said if anyone had been affected, they should come forward.

Separately, the IGP admitted that police officials had not adequately dealt with the suicide case of a female student in a Punjab University hostel.

He said the police failed to take prompt action on the issues.

Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Registrar Uzma Batool also appeared before the court and presented a report of an inquiry committee formed on an incident of alleged harassment of students at the campus.

Chief Justice Neelum rejected the report, noting that the report was prepared after the court issued a notice to the LCWU registrar, which she also admitted.

“As the issue at hand is sensitive, touches on the social issue of spreading fake news, and relates to female students of colleges and universities, it must be handled with care and caution,” the chief justice observed in the written order of the hearing.

The CJ maintained that the safety of female students was the prime consideration of the court.

She ordered the investigating agencies to complete the investigation using modern techniques without harassing anyone. She directed the FIA director general to personally appear with a report after probing all social media accounts relating to the alleged incidents of harassment at the Punjab Group of Colleges, LCWU and the suicide of a female student at the PU.

The CJ instructed the FIA to record statements of the students, if needed, in the presence of their parents and heads of institutions.

However, she observed that no one should be forced to make any statement.

Justice Farooq Haider and Justice Ali Zia Bajwa would be other members of the bench headed by the chief justice herself. The bench would resume its hearing on Oct 22.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024