JournalismPakistan.com
July 06, 2017

ISLAMABAD – A deputy director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), accused of harassing a journalist told the Islamabad High Court he had become irrelevant to the case as it had been handed over to the cybercrime circle.

According to Dawn, Investigating Officer Noman Ashraf Bodla said this in a written reply to the IHC in response to a petition filed by journalist Taha Siddiqui.

The officer said he was tasked to probe Siddiqui’s posts on social media and had phoned him to appear before the FIA.

Bodla said he never harassed the journalist and spoke to him politely. The paper quoted the official as saying that the case was now with the cybercrime circle and he had therefore become irrelevant.

Siddiqui, the Pakistan bureau chief for World Is One News, a New Delhi-based news website, said in his petition that Bodla called him on May 18 and asked him to appear for questioning at the FIA offices. The journalist alleged that the officer harassed and threatened him.

The IHC later in May restrained FIA from harassing the petitioner.

Image: Twitter (@TahaSSiddiqui)