SC says nothing wrong with video recording of JIT proceedings
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Hussain Nawaz's request to prohibit the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing allegations of money laundering against the Sharif family from recording videos of the proceedings.
Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's elder son, had filed a request in the apex court earlier this month after a CCTV image of his appearance before the JIT was 'leaked'.
Hussain had sought the formation of a commission to investigate the leaking of the photo. He had claimed in the request that the photo leak was against ethical and legal codes, adding that the recording videos of the JIT's proceedings was akin to "pressurising" witnesses appearing before the body.
He added that the recording of proceedings does not allow witnesses to "speak without being treated like a criminal".
The apex court, rejecting Hussain's request, said that video recordings are only used for the prepare the transcript.
"Till the law is amended, the video recordings will not be shown in the court room," Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, head of the special implementation bench of the Supreme Court, said Tuesday.
"Video recordings cannot be presented as evidence before the court," the judge assured.
The judge also noted that action had been taken against one suspect identified in connection with the leaking of Hussain's photo.
Attorney General (AG) Ashtar Ausuf told the court that there was no objection to the report of the investigation into the leaked photo being made public.
However, the court said the report would not be disclosed to the public.
The court also ordered the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to file a reply to the SC in relation to the allegations against it.
The bureau has come under fire recently after it was alleged that it had hacked a Facebook account in the use of JIT member Bilal Rasool and his family members in order to retrieve its contents — which were apparently attached by Hussain Nawaz in a complaint regarding the JIT's partiality to the SC.
Last week, the director general of the IB conceded that the agency collected 'details' of the members of the JIT, but denied hacking any individual's social media accounts or harassing their family.
A day earlier, the SC had sought the AG's assistance in determining what legal backing the bureau has to become ‘private sleuths’, admonishing the civilian spies for "interfering" in the JIT's investigation.