LAHORE: The Lahore High Court was asked on Friday to order action against those involved in an organised campaign on the social media against the judges of superior courts.

“Hundreds of Facebook pages are running an organised campaign targeting the judiciary,” said Advocate Mian Dawood in a petition filed under Article 199 of the Constitution.

He submitted that the campaign against the judiciary on the social media was frequent especially when members of political parties in opposition got relief from any court of the country. He said the Supreme Court had clearly declared that any such ridiculous campaign under the garb of Article 19 of the Constitution amounted to an attack on the judiciary and an attempt to shatter the confidence of the public on the institution.

He argued that it was the duty of the LHC to protect judges and courts from being scandalised.

The petitioner alleged that the judicial organ of the state was subject to derogatory remarks through an organised campaign run from the social media cells of political parties and other groups without maintaining a difference between criticism on courts’ verdicts and use of foul language.

He asked the court to order the cyber crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate those involved in the campaign with intent to scandalise the courts/judges and lodge FIRs against them. He demanded that the FIA also be directed to submit a report in court about persons operating fake or genuine social media accounts and to immediately remove all types of material available on the internet maligning the judiciary and judges.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2019