IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
 
Criminal Petition No.277 of 2020 
(Against order dated 18.02.2020 
passed by the Islamabad High Court 
Islamabad 
in 
Crl. 
Misc. 
No. 
60-B/2020) 
 
 
Dr. Atif Muhammad Khan 
 
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
The State through D.A.G. & another 
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Mr. Sajeel Sheryar Swati, ASC 
 
Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR 
 
For the State: 
Mr. Aamir-ur-Rehman, 
 
Additional Attorney General for Pakistan 
along with Qaiser Masood Addl. Director 
FIA, M. Salman Deputy Director FIA 
 
Maqsood 
Ahmed, 
Forensic 
Officer, 
Humaira Aslam SI, FIA 
 
For the Complainant: 
Mr. M. Junaid Akhtar, ASC 
 
 
Date of hearing: 
16.04.2020. 
 
ORDER 
 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Behind bars since 
01.01.2020, Dr. Atif Mehmood Khan, petitioner, seeks admission to 
bail; member of academia, he is blamed by his former wife Ms. Fozia 
Anwar for disseminating her explicit photographs through a WhatsApp 
profile, transmitted from a cell phone number issued by a United 
Kingdome Service Provider; the pictures accompanied threatening/ 
abusive messages, circulated among the family members with an 
obvious motive to humiliate and embarrass the lady. During 
investigation, petitioner led to the recovery of a number of articles, 
secured vide inventory dated 02.01.2020 that included a mobile phone 
handset along with four SIMs (Subscriber Identity Modules) as well as a 
 Criminal Petition No.277 of 2020 
2
memory card with different IMEI numbers, dispatched to National 
Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), Federation Investigation 
Agency Islamabad for digital forensic examination. As per report dated 
31.02.2020, paraphernalia recovered during the investigation did not 
indicate to have generated the impugned material, on the basis whereof, 
the Investigating Officer, vide case diary No.10 dated 12.2.2020, 
exonerated the petitioner and accordingly placed him in Column 2 of 
the report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898.    
 
2. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
3. 
 
Bad blood between the erstwhile spouses though a possible 
motive to target the complainant, nonetheless, requires independent 
evidence to prima facie frame the petitioner with the charge; forensic 
evidence, the only tool to sustain the charge, for the present, is faltering 
as the findings recorded by the Federal Investigation Agency are in the 
negative. Ch. Aamir-ur-Rehman, learned Additional Attorney General 
for Pakistan has very fairly conceded the point. Argument by the 
learned counsel for the complainant that the petitioner alone had an 
axe to grind, a circumstance by itself sufficient to drive home the 
charge, is beside the mark. Petitioner’s culpability, after prosecution’s 
failure on forensic side, can best be settled after recording of evidence 
and, thus, his incarceration till conclusion thereof, would be 
inexpedient. A case for grant of bail stands made out. Criminal Petition 
is converted into appeal and allowed; the petitioner shall be released on 
bail upon furnishing a bond in the sum of Rs.500,000/- with one surety 
in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court/Duty 
Magistrate. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Judge 
 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
16th April, 2020 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/- 
