A Judicial Magistrate in Karachi has sentenced a man to nine years in jail for leaking indecent images of his former fiancé under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PECA) on Thursday.
The court sentenced Muhammad Shoaib to nine years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 90,000 on him for taking obscene photos of the woman before posting them on Facebook and Instagram through fake accounts.
If Shoaib fails to pay the fine, he will undergo additional imprisonment.
The case was heard by Judicial Magistrate Yusra Ashfaq, where the man was charged under Sections 20 (dignity of natural person), 21 (modesty of natural person and minor), 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016. He was awarded a three-year imprisonment on each count, making his sentence a total of nine years long.
The court ruled, “The prosecution has demonstrated that the accused tarnished the dignity of the complainant and her family, violated the complainant’s modesty, displayed obscene videos without her consent, and displayed them publicly.”
Additionally, the detailed order also mentioned that the convict has previously been convicted on similar charges back in 2017. “Despite having been convicted in a similar case in 2017, he persisted in his harassment, reportedly utilizing digital platforms to share obscene images and videos of the victim publicly through different modus operandi.”
The court noted that forensic investigation suggests that the convict had leaked the photos and videos with “deliberate intention” to inflict emotional distress over the victim.
Federal Investigation Agency’s Assistant Director-Legal Sheraz Rajpar informs the court that the victim’s father had lodged a complaint against Mohammad Shoaib.
The father informed the FIA Cyber Crime Cell that back in September 2019, his daughter’s inappropriate images and videos were being shared through Instagram and Facebook, which caused distress to his daughter and his family. Notably, his daughter had been engaged to Shoaib, but the relationship ended.
FIA seized the electronic devices that Shoaib used for making different social media accounts and harassing the victim.
While the convict’s lawyer contended in front of the court that his client was falsely implicated in this crime, the court rejected the defence plea and noted that the evidence available before the court directly infers his involvement in the harassment.
The other FIR against Shoaib was also registered by the same ex-fiancée, and he was convicted in August 2020 for using different social media platforms, including Gmail and Facebook, to commit similar offences.
However, that conviction was later challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC), and it is still pending.
“Therefore, the defence’s argument that imposing a punishment would violate the principle of double jeopardy lacks merit as the prior social mediums were Facebook and Gmail,” the court said in the final verdict.