KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Saturday extended the physical remand of anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan by two days, directing the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to produce him on Oct 19 (Monday).

Hassan was arrested for allegedly disseminating anti-state, false and defamatory content on his official social media accounts and was booked under sections 9, 10, 24 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

On Saturday, Hassan was presented before Karachi (East) Judicial Magistrate-I Judge Gulraiz Memon upon the completion of his four-day physical remand. Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq appeared as the counsel for the TV personality.

The magistrate rejected the NCCIA’s plea to grant it Hassan’s further custody of 10 days and allowed another two days’ custody. He further ordered the agency to produce him before court on Oct 19.

The magistrate also dismissed a plea filed by Hassan’s counsel under Section 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which sought his discharge from the case.

“He/accused did not claim any maltreatment at the hands of NCCIA. On the query of this court, [the] accused admitted to have met with his family and legal counsel during physical custody remand,” the order, available with Dawn, read.

The NCCIA, under Section 167 of the CrPC, presented the first remand report before the magistrate, seeking Hassan’s further physical remand for 10 days. The agency maintained that the investigation into the case had “progressed”, but several material and vital aspects of the case were yet to be investigated.

In its report, the NCCIA said that Hassan’s digital devices containing data worth 1,145.89 GB had been handed over to the forensic team of its Karachi chapter for forensic analysis, which was required to identify relevant applications, user profiles, configured social media accounts, Gmail accounts, Apple IDs, stored files, communication with this impugned content and any other similar content, etc.

The cybercrime agency also provided the links to the content that the complaint said was intended to “instigate and incite the general public at large against constitutional implementation”.

“These posts are also causing panic, disorder and provincial unrest among the general public, creating ill will and disaffection amongst the state and may sabotage public tranquillity and order,” the NCCIA said.

The agency requested the further custody of the suspect to trace the “origin, relation, financial correlation and cross-border linkages (if any) etc”, of his posts.

In his order, the magistrate emphasised that the investigation was currently pending.

“In offences under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, collecting digital footprints, technical data, and forensic evaluation requires reasonable time. Discharging an accused at this initial junction when the investigating officer is actively compiling material would prematurely stifle and hamper the investigation,” the order stated.

Presenting arguments on the plea under Section 63, Barrister Ashfaq argued that the video had no offence of Peca; the first information report (FIR) was registered through a source report; hence, no complainant, no Home Department permission was sought for Hassan’s inter-provincial arrest; neither was the date mentioned on the arrest and seizure memo.

The counsel pleaded that the magistrate had ample powers to discharge his client at this stage.

Conversely, the NCCIA investigating officer strongly opposed the application and contended that the investigation was at a “critical and preliminary stage”.

He said that the digital evidence, including IP logs and the forensic analysis of electronic devices, was currently being collected and sent for expert analysis.

Commenting on the defence counsel’s argument that “every individual has said what the accused has said in the alleged video”, the magistrate observed that it still did not “give the right to the accused to propagate hate speech which might instigate the general public against the institution of Pakistan”.

Furthermore, the order said that the NCCIA, being a federal agency, had jurisdiction over the entire Pakistan and therefore does not require interprovincial permissions from the home departments of the respective provinces to carry out the arrest of any individual required under an FIR.

Hassan was booked under sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyberterrorism), 24 (cyberstalking) and 26A (Punishment for false and fake information) of Peca. He had been critical of the government’s policies on social media.