- Appeal to be reheard
It was perhaps fitting that a child pornographer’s bail was withheld on a technicality, after initially being granted by the Lahore High Court, and a rehearing ordered. However, after the bail was granted, it transpired that the order in the case had not been written, let alone signed, by the judge concerned, so the pornography convict was not released, and his case ordered reheard. The Chief Justice of Pakistan himself is reported to have taken notice of the decision, which created a stir when it became public, and rightly so.
It should be noted that the appellant had been convicted by a Sargodha judicial magistrate, on the pointation of the Norwegian embassy, and was part of a ring which included a Swede, an Italian, an American and two Englishmen. This was the only conviction in this case, as well as in the Kasur child pornography case, which had uncovered the ugly reality that filthy pictures were being peddled from Pakistan. The Sargodha case had shown that child pornography was not something that was being peddled in an isolated location, but was associated with the whole country, not just one of its towns.
That the conviction took place under the Cybercrime Act shows that the investigating agency, in this case the Federal Investigation Agency, has been equipped with the right tools. The initial conviction shows that the judiciary can handle such cases. However, the granting of bail may indicate that the state of the higher judiciary still leaves it subject to the tendency to grant bail at the drop of a hat. There is something of enthusiasm because of the international dimensions of the case. The objection to the bail must not be that it spoils the image of the country in the comity of nations. Rather, it should be that the children of the country deserve better from those who have been made responsible for their welfare. The convict has served the equivalent of five years, and will be released in a couple of years after his sentence is up. A register of such offenders is now essential to prevent a recurrence.
