ISLAMABAD Feb 16 (TNS): The Interior Ministry on Friday submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a draft of proposed amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 which seek to equate punishments for a false accusation of blasphemy to the punishment for actually committing blasphemy.
The punishment for blasphemy in Pakistan ranges from several years in prison to a death sentence. Under existing laws, a person making a false accusation can only face proceedings under Section 182 of the PPC, which entails a maximum punishment of six months, or a mere Rs1,000 fine.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had asked for the draft in connection with an order he had passed in a case pertaining to the circulation of sacrilegious content on social media.
The new draft was presented after the court had rejected an earlier draft while pointing out multiple shortcomings in it, including the omission of a punishment for those who falsely accuse others of blasphemy.
On being shown the new draft, Justice Siddiqui remarked that the law finally seemed to hold false accusers of blasphemy accountable, adding that it was “once again the courts which had to get it done.”
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) separately presented to him a report on blasphemous and pornographic content on the internet. The report said that the authority had so far blocked 550 blasphemous websites.
It added that 763, 00 links to pornographic content have been blocked, of which 279,000 were blocked following court orders.
The hearing of the case was adjourned until March 16.
