KARACHI: A day after her arrest, a judicial magistrate on Saturday remanded a woman leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in judicial custody in a case registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) booked and arrested the information secretary of PTI-Karachi Division, Fauzia Siddiqui, for allegedly spreading fake news through her social media account and using derogatory language against senior army officials.

The investigating officer of the case produced Ms Siddiqui before the court of a judicial magistrate and sought her custody for two weeks to collect digital evidence including passwords of the recovered devices.

However, her counsel argued that the case was part of a political victimisation campaign against the PTI and his client was arrested because she was affiliated with the embattled party.

Magistrate sends Fauzia Siddiqui to prison; allows IO to grill her on jail premises from ‘sunrise to sunset’

The defence lawyer also submitted that all the relevant devices were already in the possession of the IO and there was no justification for any physical remand.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq, in her order, noted that the case of the female suspect came within Section 167(4) of the criminal procedure code which states “no woman shall be remanded in police custody unless it is absolutely necessary for the investigation, and in such cases, the investigation shall be conducted under strict supervision within the confines of jail premises”.

The magistrate said that the devices, required for further investigation, were already in the possession of the FIA and the court did not find any sufficient justification for giving her physical custody to the agency.

In order to facilitate further investigations, the magistrate said that the suspect was to be interrogated on the premises of the jail from sunrise to sunset until March 23.

According to the FIR lodged on March 20, Ms Siddiqui was allegedly involved in propaganda against state and its institutions through her X (formerly Twitter) account.

“The alleged person is spreading fake news on her real social media account and using derogatory languages about the state and high-ranking officials of Pak Army,” it added.

The Cybercrime wing of the FIA booked her under Section 20 (offences against dignity of a natural person) and 26-A (false and fake information) of the Peca 2025.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025