LAHORE: Canadian national Pakistani PhD scholar Hamza Ahmad Khan has approached the Lahore High Court for post-arrest bail in a cybercrime case.

Previously, a judicial magistrate and a sessions court had dismissed his bail petitions.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) had registered the case against him under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016.

The bail petition, filed through Advocate Asad Jamal, argues that the case against the petitioner is false and manufactured with the malicious intent to rope him in unjust and unfair legal proceedings. It contends that the judicial magistrate had unjustly ignored the fact of abduction of the petitioner as demonstrated through the FIR. It argues that the petitioner has not committed any criminal act under the law and that the case against the petitioner is based on dishonesty and devoid of any merit.

The petition states that grant of bail is a right and refusal is an exception in such cases, especially when the prosecution is not conclusively equipped with evidence to bring the alleged case against the petitioner. It asks the court to release the petitioner on bail as there is no likelihood that he will tamper the evidence which has already been collected by the prosecution.

Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan would hear the bail petition on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2026