A Lahore court rejected the post-arrest bail application of journalist and podcast host Rehan Tariq in a case under PECA and the Pakistan Penal Code, tied to remarks made during a podcast interview with a religious scholar. His legal team had submitted opinions from several religious scholars arguing the remarks did not amount to religious disrespect, and cited 13 Supreme Court and Lahore High Court precedents on post-arrest bail. Defence counsel Mian Dawood said the court’s written order acknowledged entitlement to bail yet still denied release, referencing only four of the cited cases, and called the ruling legally inconsistent.