LAHORE: A sessions court has denied the post-arrest bail to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activist Sanam Javed in a case of sharing derogatory posts on social media against the heads of state institutions.

Additional District & Sessions Judge Suleman Ghumman announced the verdict on the activist’s post-arrest bail plea on Tuesday.

Sanam Javed had been on judicial remand and filed the bail petition seeking release, stating that the allegations were baseless. However, a prosecutor opposed the bail and presented relevant material in support of his arguments to the court.

In his decision, the judge observed that several screenshots of alleged posts were made part of the record, which showed that the petitioner uploaded and shared highly defamatory and derogatory contents through social media accounts against public functionaries including the army chief, Pakistan army, and the prime minister.

He said that in most of the posts, the petitioner targeted the Pakistan army just to defame the institution.

“In some posts, the petitioner passed derogatory remarks by using the photographs of army chief and high-ranked army officers. During investigation, the petitioner was found involved in the commission of the offence,” AD&SJ Ghumman observed in his verdict.

The judge said that from the report of forensic analysis, the petitioner was, prima facie, linked with the offence. “Hence, instant post-arrest bail petition is hereby dismissed,” the judge concluded in his order.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2025