Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) newly appointed acting chief justice, took up on Monday a petition filed against the recent amendments to the country's cybercrime law, the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PECA), 2016.
Justice Dogar was one of the three judges who were transferred from three different provincial high courts to the IHC through a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on February 3.
Five IHC judges filed representations against the transferred judges after the IHC former chief justice, Aamer Farooq, issued a new seniority list in which Justice Dogar appeared as the senior puisne judge.
Justice Farooq later rejected the representations and after his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Dogar was sworn in as the IHC's acting chief justice in a ceremony boycotted by a number of his IHC colleagues on February 14.
On Monday, a single-member bench comprising Justice Dogar addressed the petition filed against the PECA (Amendment) Act, 2025 by the IHC Journalist Association (IHCJA).
The IHCJA's lawyer, Mian Samiuddin, informed the bench that similar petitions against PECA amendments were being heard by IHC's Justice Inam Amin Minhas. Responding to a query of the judge, the lawyer said Justice Minhas had adjourned the case for two weeks.
He requested the IHC acting chief justice to form a larger bench to hear the plea. Justice Dogar replied that Justice Minas would decide whether a larger bench was needed or not. He instructed the IHC registrar to club the IHCJA's petition with other petitions filed against the PECA (Amendment) Act, 2025.
The petition stated that the PECA (Amendment) Act, 2025 is an attack on press freedom and is unconstitutional and illegal. It requested judicial review, arguing that the amendment act violates Articles 19 and 19A of the Constitution.
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