Islamabad: An Additional District & Sessions Judge (ADSJ) of Islamabad on Monday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to conduct an inquiry against American blogger Cynthia Ritchie over her posts on social media “defaming” former Pakistan prime minister and former leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) late Benazir Bhutto.
The judge had earlier reserved the ruling after hearing arguments from Shakeel Abbasi, the counsel for defence for petitioner PPP and the president of the Islamabad unit of the party.
Ritchie had also submitted her reply to the court.
Abbasi, in his plea, had requested the court to order the FIA Cybercrime Wing to register a case against Ritchie for allegedly defaming Bhutto.
The allegations
Cynthia is currently at the centre of a controversy after having levelled charges of rape against former interior minister Rehman Malik and charges of molestation against former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani and former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin. All three belong to PPP. Ritchie has vowed to defend her charges and expose the ‘molesters’ on every forum, including the court of law.
Earlier, Islamabad Police and FIA in their replies to the petition had submitted that they couldn’t register a case as the matter was beyond its jurisdiction. The FIA pleaded Abbasi was neither an affected party nor a member of Bhutto’s family to demand registration of a case against the US national currently residing in Pakistan.
Under Pakistan law, only a judge can direct the police or the intelligence agency to register a case.
The court ruling
In his ruling on Monday, the ADSJ observed that Ritchie, in her reply, had not denied posting controversial tweets against Bhutto. The judge remarked that Bhutto was a leader of international stature and millions of people identified with her and could move a court as affected party.
“FIA is directed to proceed in accordance with the law, conduct an inquiry and if there is sufficient material, register an FIR,” the verdict said.
The court also observed that the allegations against Bhutto were made 12 years after her assassination and that the US blogger “never agitated [over] this fact before any competent authority and did not even disclose it to the media”.
