The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) said Thursday that an “organised campaign” against judges was “unfortuante”, noting that directly attacking the jurors was against freedom of expression.
The top court’s statement came in response to “misreporting” on social, electronic, and print media about a case whose judgment was issued on February 6, 2024.
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Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa — heading a two-member bench including Justice Mussarat Hilali — had issued the order on a set of appeals filed by petitioner Mubarik Ahmad Sani against an order of the Lahore High Court order.
Sani was accused of distributing/disseminating a proscribed book, Tafseer-e-Sagheer, which as per the prosecution, was an offence under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act enforced in 2021. However, the FIR alleged that he had done the act in 2019 when it was not an offence.
Referring to the verdict, the top court lamented that in dealing with cases pertaining to offences against religion facts give way to emotions, and Islamic commands are not heeded.
“Confusion is spreading due to the erroneous reporting on print, social, and electronic media about an order. An impression is being given that the Supreme Court has deviated from the Constitution’s definition of a Muslim and also called for ending the punishments for religious offences under the Pakistan Penal Code,” it added. “This impression is totally wrong.”
