KARACHI: A sessions court on Thursday dismissed an application challenging a magistrate’s order handing over TV anchor Iqrarul Hassan’s custody to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in a case pertaining to the alleged dissemination of anti-state content on social media.

District and Sessions Judge (East) Arshad Murtaza dismissed the application, observing that “no gross illegality or irregularity” had been found in the impugned order of the judicial magistrate, who had remanded Mr Hassan in the NCCIA custody for four days.

At the outset of the hearing, defence counsel Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq submitted that his client had been arrested at his house in Lahore against a case registered on the basis of a source report that he allegedly criticised the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a video uploaded to his official social media accounts.

The counsel also submitted transcripts of the video and contended that Mr Hassan was a media person and a well-known political commentator, who was also heading a political party.

He argued that, as a media personality and a “qualified political commentator”, Mr Hassan was “entitled to express his views and opinions on political developments and public affairs”, adding that his exercise of freedom of expression had been made the basis of his implication in the case.

During the proceedings, Mr Hassan’s wife Farah took the witness box and informed the court about her husband’s arrest claiming that the investigating officer was not present at the time of the arrest.

On the other hand, in the absence of the NCCIA prosecutor, who was out of the city, the IO opposed the plea and submitted that five digital devices, including four mobile phones and one iPad, had been recovered from Mr Hassan’s possession. He informed the court that a large amount of digital data had been found and that he required time to analyse it, arguing that the anchorperson’s physical custody was necessary for further investigation.

In his detailed order, the judge observed: “Admittedly, all the citizens have equal rights as well as liabilities under the Constitution and relevant law irrespective of the social and political status of the concerned individuals. The learned counsel has specifically termed the applicant a ‘qualified political commentator’ who till recently also heads a political party. Again, this term ‘qualified political commentator’ has no legal backing.”

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2026