LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to restrain all television channels from airing the video of physical torture on a girl at a private school.

Justice Shahid Jamil Khan passed the order on a petition filed on behalf of one of the minor girls accused of torturing their class fellow.

The Defence-A Police Station had registered the first information report (FIR) against four girls on complaint of the victim’s father.

The suspects, Jannat Malik and Kainat Malik (both sisters), Umaima Qaiser and the victim, Aleeha Imran, study at Scholar Dale, American International School, Defence BB, Phase IV.

Umaima approached the high court against airing the video clip of the incident by the news channels without hiding the faces of the minors.

A lawyer argued, on behalf of the petitioner, that the widespread broadcasting of the video of the incident had put the lives of the minor girls at stake. He said the media violated international standards to report incidents involving minors by showing faces of the school girls on television screens.

The counsel asked the court to restrain the news channels from showing the video of the incident anymore and also ordered them to seek a public apology. He further urged the court to order the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to delete the video in question from the internet.

Justice Khan restrained the channels from airing the video again and sought written replies from Pemra and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on the matter by the next week.

The complainant alleged that one of the suspects was a drug addict. He said the suspect girls assaulted his daughter on refusing to join them for taking drugs. He said his daughter had made a video of the suspects when they were using drugs in school, which also offended them.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023