Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued a verdict yesterday in the case regarding elimination of blasphemous content from social media.
In the 116-page detailed judgment, Justice Siddiqui suggested that parliament make the blasphemy law tougher by fixing the same punishment for any person misusing it or falsely accusing someone of blasphemy, Dawn reported today.
The judge explained how people due to their personal enmity managed to drag their rivals into blasphemy cases endangering the life of not only the accused person but all his family members and relatives.
The judge said this is a very minor punishment for such a serious offence of accusing someone of blasphemy.
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He said that due to the misuse of the law critics even demanded abolishing it. He said that it was better to stop exploitation of the law rather than abolishing it.
"Admittedly, not a single convict whether Muslim or non- Muslim has ever been executed for blasphemy in Pakistan," the judgment added.
Besides, the court directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to create a firewall to block unwanted and sacrilegious content in Pakistan.
The court acknowledged steps taken by the federal government to eliminate such content from the social media. It, however, directed the interior ministry and other departments concerned to vigorously take up the matter with the Facebook management.
In case, the Facebook management does not remove the indecent content and revered personalities the website may be banned completely in Pakistan, the verdict said.
Blasphemy laws were introduced in 1980s and no government could dare change them despite allegation of misuse. However, it might be possible to amend after the verdict.