KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the director general of the National Cyber Crime Agency (NCCIA) to ensure that his officers perform their duties without fear or favour and in a professional manner.
The single-judge bench headed by Justice Omar Sial also expressed serious resentment towards the DG and other officials of the NCCIA for not appearing in a case concerning the dissemination of personal photos and videos and for showing little progress in locating or arresting the accused.
It further deplored the misrepresentations made by certain officers before the court as well as their lethargic and unprofessional conduct. The DG and a director of the NCCIA did not turn up before the court.
“If such is the conduct of the senior officials of the NCCIA then one should not be surprised by the poor and substandard work done by their junior colleagues”, it added.
The bench issued these directives while hearing a criminal miscellaneous application filed by a woman against her former husband, an advocate by profession, for uploading her personal pictures and videos on social media and other digital platforms.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench noted that the DG was put on notice after misrepresentations were made by certain officers as well as their unprofessional and lethargic conduct.
However, it noted that unfortunately, not only the DG NCCIA but the director concerned also did not turn up and instead sent an additional director to the court.
The additional attorney general (AAG) Mohsin Shahwani contended that the DG was unable to appear since he was needed in the Lahore High Court. Thereafter, the bench again put the DG on notice with a direction to appear at the next hearing.
However, the AAG requested the bench to exempt the presence of the DG NCCIA and also assured it that the NCCIA in Karachi would perform its duties professionally, promptly and without fear or favour.
The federal law officer also maintained that progress had been made in search and seizure efforts in the present case and that perpetrators would be apprehended shortly.
The bench said that the court has always restrained itself from interfering in any manner with the duties of the executive and has never interfered with ongoing investigations and inquiries.
“The need to summon the DG arose because of misrepresentations made to the court by the NCCIA sleuths and their complete lethargy, unprofessional attitudes and conduct. A girl is being continuously humiliated and for reasons best known to the NCCIA investigators, they have entirely failed in locating the alleged culprit. It sounds rather unbelievable, as the named accused is a lawyer and is frequently seen in court”, it added.
The bench exempted the DG from appearance after the AAG assured it that the DG NCCIA would personally review the case and that a meaningful inquiry report would be placed before the court at the next hearing.
Adjourning the hearing till Oct 13, the bench directed its office to send a copy of this order to the DG NCCIA to ensure that his officers/colleagues must perform their jobs without fear or favour, professionally and in accordance with the law.
It also said that utmost care should be taken to ensure that victim is not embarrassed or humiliated in any manner and that the facts of the matter/case should be revealed without any bias or leaning towards either side.
At an earlier hearing, the bench had also said that the NCCIA was a premium law enforcement agency against cybercrime and that it must have internal controls to prevent any of its officers from unnecessarily seeking search warrant from magistrates in the cases of dissemination of personal photos and videos.
The SHC had also observed that apart from the fact that valuable data/equipment may be lost due to delayed searches, it was also not appropriate to put a victim through additional hassle and humiliation of appearing before a magistrate to record a statement for issuance of search warrant in such cases.
Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2025.