A district and sessions court in Karachi on Monday granted bail to journalist Farhan Mallick in a case registered under Pakistan’s cybercrime law, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
District Judge (East) Karachi Dr Chaudhry Wasim Iqbal approved the bail application after hearing arguments from Mallick's counsel, who said that no concrete evidence had been presented despite the passage of considerable time since the filing of the case.
“The case is baseless, and even screenshots cannot be treated as sufficient grounds for prosecution,” said defence lawyer Moez Jafri.
The court ordered Farhan Mallick to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000.
Mallick is facing charges under PECA as well as allegations related to running an illegal call centre. On April 3, the court had issued a second notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after earlier hearings.
Last month, Farhan Malik was taken into custody by the FIA in Karachi.
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