The Registrar 's office has raised an objection regarding the maintainability of the petition. The petitioner , namely , Adnan Iqbal is an enrolled advocate of this Court and registered as a member of the Islamabad Bar Council and the Islamabad High Court Bar Associatio n, respectively . He is aggrieved on account of a 'tweet' alleged to have been uploaded on the social media by respondent no.1 i.e. Mr. Matiullah Jan son of Abdul Raziq Abbasi (hereinafter referred to as the "Respondent" ).
2. It is the case of the petitioner that the Respondent, through his 'tweet,' has attempted to use the social media platform to scandalize the apex Court. The petitioner has prayed for the initiation of proceedings against the Respondent under the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003. The petitioner has also attached a document which is claimed to be an image of the tweet uploaded by the Respondent on his Twitter Account.
3. The petitioner has been heard at length.
4. 'Social media' is a recent phenomena and by now has become a reality . It refers to all those internet based applications which give access to people across the globe to create, organise and distribute messages, pictures and audio visual content. There are no border restrictions and fake accounts can be created to propagate false, malicious and misguided information. It has become an effective tool to spread propaganda and to be exploited to harm others. Even States are believed to be exploiting the social media platforms to fight propaganda wars. It is reported that political parties, without being accountable, manage organized campaigns on the social media platforms for which even fake accounts are created. Facebook, Twitter , YouTube etc. are all borderless and unregulated privately owned mediums of communication created for the spread of information and social interaction. By the very nature of its characteristics, it creates herculean and intense challenges for the administration of justice. There are manifest dangers and an increasing risk regarding the protection of the fairness of legal proceedings and rights of the parties involved. Its impact on the administration of justice, particularly the right to a fair trial of an accused, could be profound.
5. The abuse of social media platforms in a politically polarized society entails the risk of harming institutions and individuals. Fake, false, malicious and misguided propaganda, cyber bullying or cyber stalking, targeting the judiciary and its members on social media platforms has become a common phenomenon. The privacy of judges is not protected and messages, photos and videos relating to their personal lives or family matters are also uploaded in flagrant violation of the right to privacy . Fake, false and fabricated information and propaganda about judges and the administration of justice is resorted to in order to get desired verdicts. Motives are imputed when a verdict is not of liking. It definitely creates an intense challenge for an independent judge and the judiciary . But the dignity of a Judge or a Court is not dependent on resorting to the law of contempt. The judgm ents of a Judge and the latter's conduct is the measure of his or her integrity and independence. If contempt proceedings were to be initiated on the basis of a message uploaded on one of the social media platforms then it would open flood gates of petitions because of the number of allegedly contemptuous content. It was indeed not appropriate for the petitioner , who is an enrolled advocate, to have further propagated an inappropriate and unwant ed content by filing the instant petition. Only a few would have read it on the social media platform but by entertaining this petition this Court would be facilitating its propagation. It is not the case of the petitioner that the alleged material has created a substantial risk of impeding or prejudicing the course of justice in a pending matter . The integrity and independence of the Hon'ble Judges, regarding whom the alleged tweet has been attributed, is beyond doubt. The dignity of an independent judge nor his or her integrity is so frail and vulnerable so as to be harmed by a tweet on the social media platform. This Court, therefore, is satisfied that entertaining this petition will enable the petitioner to propagate an alleged content that is not worthy of giving importance. The objection regarding maintainability is, therefore, af firmed.