ISLAMABAD – A court in the federal capital on Monday declared that a police raid to carry out a raid to arrest senior journalist Mohsin Baig on federal minister Murad Saeed’s complaint was “illegal”.
Earlier in the day, Baig was arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from his home days after he passed “offensive” comments about Minister for Communications Murad Saeed citing Reham Khan’s book.
Later, a petition was filed against the arrest of the senior journalist with the sessions court that has issued five-page verdict.
The first information reports (FIRs) registered by the police and FIA proved that the raid was unlawful, the court ruled, adding that officials who raided Mohsin Baig’s house had no authority for it.
The court remarked that police registered a case against the senior journalist instead of filing a case against the raiding party.
It commented that SHO of the Margalla police stations kept Baig in illegal detention till 2:15am and did not produce him before the court.
The court has directed the authorities to record the statement of the journalist and take actions according to the law.
Earlier, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted three-day physical remand of Mohsin aig, hours after he was arrested for resisting an FIA raid.
FIA officials claimed that Baig opened fire using a hand weapon at the raiding party but was nabbed after hours-long resistance.
Officials also mentioned that action had been taken on the request of the Murad Saeed.
In the clips doing rounds on social media, the arrested journalist can be seen toting a hand weapon while gunshots can be heard. Reports also claimed that a sub-inspector also sustained injuries during the incident.
The development comes days after the country’s media watchdog PEMRA issued a show-cause notice to private TV channel News One over demeaning remarks made about Saeed during anchor Gharidah Faruqi’s show.
