As a consequence, the appeal was dismissed, and the trial court was ordered to proceed quickly and complete the matter as soon as possible.
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court declared on Saturday that child pornography is the most deadly societal evil, as it has caused havoc and constitutes a serious threat to children's morality and future.
"One of the causes for the increase in occurrences of
child abuse/abuse is entirely child pornography," Justice Syed Mazahar
Ali Akbar Naqvi wrote in his written verdict.
The appeal filed by the Peshawar High Court against the
rejection of Umar Khan's bail plea was considered by a two-member panel of the
Supreme Court, consisting of Justice Maqbool Baqir and Justice Naqvi. The
petitioner had applied for post-arrest release in a complaint filed against him
at the Cyber Crime Reporting Center in Abbottabad under Section 22 (1) of the
Electronic Crimes Act 2016.
Khan is accused of posting child pornography on the social
media platform Facebook. The incident was examined by the Federal Investigation
Agency (FIA) after obtaining information from the internet, and the petitioner
was detained after the first information report was filed.
In his ruling, Justice Naqvi stated that while there have
been worries about sexual exploitation and exploitation of children in the
past, the intensity and impact of child pornography crime are rapidly expanding
due to many circumstances and that it is impossible to eradicate this disease.
Need With an iron hand, he came to a halt.
Despite the fact that the petitioner's violation did not
fall within the prohibition clause of section 497 of the CRPC and entails a
maximum penalty of seven years, the nature of the accusation, its social
impact, and the evidence gathered thus far are significant. When an offence
comes under the prohibition clause, it will be included in the bail waiver,
according to the ruling.
He bemoaned the fact that the length of time the petitioner
had been active in sharing child pornography and the number of movies he had
transmitted so far had still to be ascertained. In any event, he noted,
"hollowing out society" is a crime, thus the petitioner's lawyer's
argument was ineffective. In other situations, the petition was delayed for
three days and no plausible justification for the delay was provided, according
to the judgement.
As a consequence, the appeal was dismissed, and the trial
court was ordered to proceed quickly and complete the matter as soon as
possible.