ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Pakistan-based US blogger Cynthia Dawn Ritchie against an earlier court order directing the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register a case against her for posting controversial tweets.
The district and sessions court of Islamabad had last week directed the agency to investigate Ritchie’s allegations of sexual assault against the top Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders which rocked the domestic political landscape.
The order was announced on a petition moved by PPP Islamabad chapter president who had approached the court against the blogger, accusing her of posting indecent tweets that involved slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The petition had requested the court to order police to register a case against Ritchie. Accepting the petition, the court directed FIA to investigate the matter.
However, two days later, the blogger approached the IHC, seeking to halt the inquiry against her.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Monday made clear that the court will not interfere in the inquiry and ordered the agency to continue with the investigation.
Citing the original court order regarding the registration of the case, the plaintiff submitted that the order did not explicitly ask the police to register a first information report (FIR). To which Justice Minallah noticed that the agency was in fact directed to conduct an inquiry prior to the registration of an FIR.
The plaintiff then said that the petition in fact objected to the part which calls on the police to lodge an FIR. The court will go into merits and demerits of the order, the judge responded.
Ritchie, 44, who is residing in Pakistan since 2009, got herself involved in a dogfight last month when she levelled indecent allegations against slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Twitter. She followed up her tweets with a string of allegations against PPP leaders including former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former ministers Rehman Malik and Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
