ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday extended the period of stay order which stopped cybercrimes court to take further action against the accused persons in a case involving former accountability judge Arshad Malik.
The court extended the stay order till November 4 on the court’s action in the case, barring the cyber crimes court to indict the accused.
The extension was made over the request of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which moved to IHC over not transferring the judge’s case to the anti-terrorism court (ATC) from the cyber crimes court.
Later, the court gave more time to the parties for submitting replies and adjourned the hearing till November 4.
Earlier on October 22, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes court had set Oct 31 for the indictment of the arrested accused in the judge video scandal case.
Special Judge of the cyber crimes court Tahir Mehmood Khan directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to submit a complete charge-sheet against the accused. The court rejected a plea by FIA seeking transfer of the case to an anti-terrorism court for the trial of the suspect.
FIA had requested the court to transfer the case to the ATC as the investigation into the case was transferred from its Cyber Crimes Wing to Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW). Two accused, including the nephew of Nasir Butt, who is the main character behind the video scandal, are in Adiala jail on judicial remand.
Judge Arshad Malik, who sentenced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to jail, had denied Maryam Nawaz’s allegations that the judge was blackmailed into convicting Nawaz without any evidence.