PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a man arrested on charges of celebrating Indian independence day and sharing its flag on social media.
A single-member bench of Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel pronounced a short order of allowing bail to the suspect named Zeeshan Khan, a resident of Mohmand tribal district, on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs300,000 each to the satisfaction of the relevant judicial magistrate.
The petitioner was charged in an FIR registered at Ghalanai police station, Mohmand district, on Aug 15, 2026, under sections 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state, and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) of Pakistan Penal Code.
The complainant in the case is SHO Murad Khan, who claimed that he was on routine patrol in the area when he came to know through social media that a person named Zeeshan had on his Facebook account shared the words ‘Jai Hind’ and Indian flag and was celebrating Indian Independence Day.
The complainant claimed that the act of suspect amounted to treason against his country Pakistan and was also aimed at creating hatred among people.
Advocates Mussawir Shah Mohmand and Shah Mohammad Khan appeared for the petitioner and stated that their client was a law abiding citizen and was falsely implicated in the instant case.
They stated that the allegations against the petitioner were regarding a social media account, which was not run by him and the said content was not available on any social media platform.
They argued that no independent witness had been cited in the case to connect the petitioner with the commission of the offence.
They contended that police acted beyond its jurisdiction as the instant case was regarding social media account, which fell under Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) wherein Federal Investigation Agency had the jurisdiction and not police.
They said that even for the sake of argument if it was admitted that the petitioner had greeted Indians on occasion of their Independence Day that was not a crime under the law.
Earlier, an additional sessions judge in Mohmand district had rejected his bail plea on Aug 18, stating that a tentative assessment of the available record revealed that the petitioner was specifically named in the FIR with a distinct role attributed to him regarding the creation and dissemination of anti-state material on digital platforms.
Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2026
