FIA approaches Supreme Court against revocation of PECA

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday challenged the decision of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the revocation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) in the top court.

The petitioner has sought the Supreme Court (SC) to repeal the order of IHC of April 6.

President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated an ordinance on February 20 to amend the PECA 2016, making online defamation a non-bailable, cognisable offence. Under the amended laws, the jail term for defamation was also increased from three years to five years. The PTI government had also incorporated Section 20 in the PECA which granted FIA ‘dominating powers’ regarding cybercrime.