A judicial magistrate in Karachi has sentenced a man to six years in prison for creating fake Facebook accounts in his friend’s name and misusing them to share inappropriate photographs after she rejected his proposal to get engaged.
Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq convicted Abdullah Saleem under Sections 20 (Dignity of a Natural Person), 21 (Modesty of a Natural Person and Minor) and 24 (Cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, awarding him two years’ imprisonment for each offence.
“It is clear that the prosecution has successfully proven the charge against the accused. The prosecution has demonstrated that the accused tarnished the dignity of the complainant and her family, violated the complaint’s modesty, display videos without her consent, and displayed them publicly,” the court observed.
According to the ruling, Abdullah Saleem’s actions were motivated by resentment and frustration after the complainant’s family turned down a formal engagement because of his anger issues.
State prosecutor Sheraz Rajpar claims that the complainant stated in her testimony that she had previously been friends with the man but broke up due to his inappropriate behavior.
In order to blackmail her and her family, he later made fake Facebook profiles in her name and posted her personal pictures.
The complainant further stated that the “accused admitted to being behind those accounts and threatened her that she would never be able to marry anyone else, even going so far as to say he would force her to commit suicide.”
Sheraz added that her testimony was corroborated by a verification report, screenshots, IP logs, WhatsApp records and a detailed forensic report. He said that during the inquiry, the accused handed over his phone to investigators, and a forensic examination confirmed that the “fake accounts and transmissions were linked to the accused’s number and IP address.”
The court denied the accused’s defense, pointing out that he had not presented sufficient evidence to back up his claims of false implication and denial of the charges.
The case had been filed under Sections 20, 21, and 24 of PECA at the Cyber Crime Cell of the Federal Investigation Agency.