Court denies Orya Maqbool Jan's physical remand in cybercrime case

A district court on Friday rejected a request for a physical remand of columnist Orya Maqbool Jan.

Duty Magistrate Sarwat Batool denied the plea for a six-day physical remand and instead ordered Jan to be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

Orya Maqbool Jan is facing charges related to cybercrime and hate speech.

Previously, the court had granted a four-day physical remand, placing Jan in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). He was arrested a few days ago.

On August 27, a judicial magistrate in Lahore extended the physical remand of anchorperson Orya Maqbool for an additional four days in a cybercrime case related to alleged hate speech against the country's top judge.

The extension followed the expiry of the anchorperson's initial four-day remand.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented Orya Maqbool, known for his controversial remarks, before the magistrate and requested further custody to complete the investigation.

The investigating officer (IO) argued that more time was needed to confront Maqbool with other suspects, as summons had already been issued.

The IO also revealed that material recovered from Jan's social media accounts, including a WhatsApp group, indicated activities against high-ranking state officials.

The IO accused Jan's of generating propaganda against the state and submitted two technical reports detailing the analysis of the suspect’s mobile phones as evidence to support the request for an extended remand.

In his defence, Orya Maqbool contended that his arrest was solely based on his views and that none of his social media posts constituted glorification of any offence or hate speech. He claimed he was merely offering a "fair comment" on a Supreme Court judgement.

Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq, representing Maqbool, argued that the charges were irrelevant and called for his client's discharge from the case.

However, Duty Magistrate Hamoodur Rehman Nasir noted that Maqbool was named in the FIR with specific allegations supported by social media posts and videos.

The magistrate observed that Jan did not deny making the posts and videos presented by the IO.

The magistrate acknowledged the progress made during the previous remand and granted a further four-day physical remand to complete the investigation, with a clear directive to show substantial progress.

The magistrate also ordered the IO to address Maqbool’s complaint about poor detention conditions and instructed that Maqbool be produced again on August 30.

Anchor Orya Maqbool Jan was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cybercrime Wing in Lahore on Thursday, Express News reported on August 22.

According to his lawyer, Azhar Siddique, Jan was detained over social media posts related to the Mubarak Sani case.

He is currently being held at the FIA Cybercrime office in Gulberg, Lahore.

Siddique claimed that details of the First Information Report (FIR) have not been disclosed to them. “We haven’t been informed of the specifics of the FIR, and we believe the FIA lacks jurisdiction in this matter,” Siddique said, adding that they plan to present strong arguments against the charges.