A Sessions Court in Islamabad has ordered American blogger Cynthia Ritchie to appear on July 13 and explain rape allegations, as it admitted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Rehman Malik's defamation lawsuit against the former.
The court has also retrained Ritchie from issuing any remarks against Malik prior to her appearance in the court on the scheduled date.
Meanwhile, according to the former interior minister, he has not responded to the blogger on any media platform so far as he 'genuinely respects' women.
Malik had sent the notice to the blogger for leveling ‘fake’ rape allegations. He had also asked for an unconditional public apology within 15 days.
On June 22, according to news reports, the Islamabad High Court rejected the blogger’s petition against directives to the FIA to file a case against her. She had challenged the order, maintaining that she had not committed any crime and so the agency should not register a case against her.
On June 5, the blogger stirred a storm in the national mainstream by accusing the then Interior Minister, PPP’s Rehman Malik of raping her. In a live video on her Facebook page, she had also accused former minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and ex premier Yousuf Raza Gilani of manhandling her.
Prior to that, on May 28, Ritchie posted remarks against the slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, termed by the PPP as “derogatory and slanderous”.
The court has also retrained Ritchie from issuing any remarks against Malik prior to her appearance in the court on the scheduled date.
Meanwhile, according to the former interior minister, he has not responded to the blogger on any media platform so far as he 'genuinely respects' women.
Malik had sent the notice to the blogger for leveling ‘fake’ rape allegations. He had also asked for an unconditional public apology within 15 days.
On June 22, according to news reports, the Islamabad High Court rejected the blogger’s petition against directives to the FIA to file a case against her. She had challenged the order, maintaining that she had not committed any crime and so the agency should not register a case against her.
On June 5, the blogger stirred a storm in the national mainstream by accusing the then Interior Minister, PPP’s Rehman Malik of raping her. In a live video on her Facebook page, she had also accused former minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and ex premier Yousuf Raza Gilani of manhandling her.
Prior to that, on May 28, Ritchie posted remarks against the slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, termed by the PPP as “derogatory and slanderous”.