LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking registration of a case against participants in Aurat March-2019 for their alleged immoral and unconstitutional act.

In his order, Additional District and Sessions Judge Amir Habib said the police in their report had maintained that no immoral or cognisable offence had been committed by the participants in the march. Moreover, the judge observed that the matter of uploading objectionable pictures of the march on social media fell within the ambit of the cybercrime law for which the petitioner should approach the Federal Investigation Agency.

Amina Malik of Civil Society Network had filed the petition under Sections 22-A and 22-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, pleading that an application had been submitted to the SHO of the Civil Lines police station for registration of an FIR against the participants of the Aurat March.

The petitioner’s counsel, Azhar Siddi­que, argued that the act of the women march participants was against the Cons­titution and Islamic injunctions. He asked the court to order the police to register a case against the participants, including singer Meesha Shafi and rights activist Nighat Dad.

The district complaint office of police filed a report before the court, denying charges of the petitioner.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2019