KARACHI:Acquitting four rights activists in a case pertaining to “abetting mutiny”, a sessions court on Tuesday observed that the government by indulging its citizens in “malicious and frivolous prosecution” and misusing its authority created a sense of fear and insecurity in the society, which result into hatred against state’s institutions.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Ihsan Ali Malik acquitted four rights activities — Muhammad Saeed Baloch, Nasir Mansoor, Abdul Wahab Baloch and Illahi Bux Bikak — after prosecution had failed to prove the charges against them.

The court cancelled the surety bonds of the four rights activists as they appeared on bail in court.

In his detailed observation, the judge stated: “It is hard to believe that political activists and human rights activists can indulge themselves in anti-state activities. The act of indulging its citizens in malicious and frivolous prosecution by the government without any substance on the plea that the thoughts are anti-state amounts to undermining the constitutional command and as such, depriving citizens from their fundamental rights of freedom of movement, assembly, speech, rights to information.”

Acquits four rights activists in ‘abetting mutiny’ case for ‘lack of substantive evidence’

“Such misuse of authority creates a sense of fear and insecurity in the society, which result into hatred against the state’s institutions. When citizens are put in fear, they cannot perform their function freely, which amounts to preventing them from contributing towards the society in accordance with the Constitution, law and as per their conscience,” the court order said.

“A democratic government is considered to be by the people, of the people and for the people. It must, therefore, develop an atmosphere of tolerance, to promote political and social justice; to create a habit of listening to healthy criticism, which is the beauty of democracy. Thus, the government must accept the will of the people, instead of considering its critics and political opponents as enemy of the state, to avert hatred and the power and authority and to avoid malicious, baseless and frivolous prosecution against its citizens,” it added.

The court also highlighted lacunas in the prosecution’s case and posed a question as despite the rally taking place during the daytime in a public and commercial area, the prosecution failed to include any private persons as their witnesses. The court also noted that during his testimony, complainant SIP Nayyer Din did not state that he had made any efforts to include private persons as witnesses in this case.

Regarding the statements of prosecution witnesses (PWs) in court, the judge observed that not a single PWs testified that the activists had “abetted mutiny or attempted to seduce a soldier, sailor, or airman from their duty.”

The prosecution relied on a video of the alleged incident, recorded on a mobile phone and sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore for forensic analysis through USB. However, the court pointed out that the evidence was not properly sealed before being sent to Lahore, and the mobile phone was not sent for forensic analysis.

“It does not disclose the audio attributing any allegation against forces of uniform persons. Mere slogans as suggested without sound proof that “Ye jo deshatgardi hai iske peeche wardi hai” does no way be attributed to armed forces of Pakistan,” the court observed regarding the audio of the alleged video of the incident.

The court also noted that Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which was added in the FIR, can only be taken cognizance of by a court upon a complaint made by the federal or provincial government, or by an officer empowered in this regard.

“In such view of the matter, Section 196 of the Code [CrPC] mandates that no person or authority other than the federal government or the provincial government or any officer empowered by the respective government on this behalf is competent to file a complaint in respect of the offences mentioned in section 196,” the court order said.

The activists were booked in an FIR registered at the Artillery Maidan police station under Sections 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The FIR stated that the four named individuals and around 240-260 others held a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club, where they chanted slogans against the forces on December 23, 2023.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024