Mohsin Baig case: AGP denies filing reference against Islamabad judge

• The government had announced to file a reference against a judge for declaring the FIA raid at Mohsin Baig’s home illegal.
• AGP says the government is not going to file a reference against Zafar Iqbal.
• Saya that a review petition can be filed against the judge’s verdict but not a reference.

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed has denied filing a reference against Islamabad’s Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal over his verdict in journalist Mohsin Baig’s case.

On Thursday, the government had announced to file a reference against the judge after he ruled the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raid illegal at the senior journalist’s home.

The FIA had raided the journalist's house on Wednesday in the federal capital, along with the police, and took him into custody on the complaint of Communications and Postal Services Minister Murad Saeed.

The journalist has been critical of the government's policies and used to appear on TV talk shows as an analyst.

Speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan, the AGP said that the government is not going to file a reference against Islamabad’s Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal.

References cannot be filed based on a judge’s verdicts, nor should be unless evidence or appellate court decision proves the judge’s misconduct, he added.

AGP Khalid Javed was of the view that a review petition can be filed against the verdict but not a reference.

Reference against Islamabad judge

On Wednesday a court in Islamabad had declared the FIA’s raid at journalist Mohsin Baig's residence illegal, hours after he had been arrested.

"...illegal raid was conducted at the house of [Baig] by irrelevant persons who were not authorised to do so," Additional Sessions Judge Islamabad West Zafar Iqbal had stated in the judgement of a petition filed against the journalist's arrest.

According to media reports, Advocate General (AG) Islamabad Niazullah Niazi had met Prime Minister Imran Khan and briefed him about the case.

After meeting with the prime minister, Niazullah Niazi had told Geo News that an administrative petition will be filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the judge, who presided over the hearing of Mohsin Baig's case regarding the FIA raid at his home.

Niazullah Niazi went on to say that the judge's observations during the case hearing were prejudiced and outside of his jurisdiction. He had claimed that the same observation had been used to dismiss the FIR filed against journalist Mohsin Baig.

Case history

On Wednesday Journalist Mohsin Baig was arrested following a raid by the FIA's Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) on the complaint of the federal minister.

Two different cases have been registered against Mohsin Baig with the police and FIA under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Anti Terrorist Act (ATA).

The Margalla Police Station has registered the First Information Report (FIR) under sections 324/342/353/Inquiry No535/2022 dated 16.02.2022 on the complaint of Murad Saeed.

The minister in his complaint stated that he stood first among all the ministries and was given the excellent performance award by the prime minister.

He said on 10th Feb, 2022, Mohsin Baig attacked his character by using abusive and immoral language on a talk show namely 'G for Gharida'.

He alleged that in the presence of other participants, Baig related a baseless story with derogatory remarks and the same was thereafter shared through social media, including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook which damaged his pubic reputation.

According to a first information report (FIR), filed at the FIA’s CCW Lahore, Baig had used “immoral language” for Murad Saeed in the talk show.

It said Baig had narrated a "baseless story with derogatory remarks" which was subsequently shared on social media and had "shattered" the federal minister's image in public.