ISLAMABAD: The main character in the judge’s leaked video case was on Monday remanded in judicial custody.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced Mian Tariq before Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi and sought his physical remand for five days. The court, however, rejected the FIA’s request and sent the suspect to prison on judicial remand.

The judge ordered that the suspect may be given proper medical facility while being in judicial custody.

Mian Tariq complained that he had been subjected to brutal torture, but the judge remarked that his medical report said otherwise.

The court inquired about the progress in the investigation. The FIA replied that the investigation team had thoroughly searched both houses of the suspect and seized two mobile phones, universal serial bus (USB) cameras, digital video recorder (DVR) and a Toyota Land Cruiser.

While leaving the court, Mian Tariq claimed that all members of his family had gone missing. His counsel told the court last week that Mian Tariq’s son had gone missing.

The suspect claimed that he did not make any video, and that if there was any video, its forensic audit should be done. He denied the ownership of the Land Cruiser and said that it was seized at the car parking of Nishtar Hospital.

As per the FIR lodged by the FIA Cybercrime Reporting Centre on July 16 on a complaint of District and Sessions Judge Arshad Malik, Mian Tariq “trapped me through intoxication/sedation for secretly making a compromising video and manipulated it into an immoral video to blackmail me” between 2000 and 2003 when he was serving as additional district and sessions judge in Multan.

He said that Mian Tariq sold this video to Mian Raza, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

In an affidavit submitted before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the judge stated that due to fear of release of “Multani video” he met Nawaz Sharif in Jati Umra on April 6 and Hussain Nawaz in Saudi Arabia on June 1 this year and Nasir Butt pressurised him to get his assistance in preparation of grounds for appeals in the Al-Azizia and Flagship references.

After perusing Judge Malik’s affidavit, the IHC administration in a letter to the law ministry asked for his immediate removal from the accountability court and subsequent repatriation to his parent department — the Lahore High Court (LHC) — where he would face disciplinary proceedings. How­ever, the law ministry has not repatriated the judge to the LHC as yet.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2019