KARACHI: A local court on Friday awarded a collective sentence of 12-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs180,000 to an accused for cyberstalking and child pornography.

M. Imran was found guilty of making indecent videos of a teenage girl and circulating the same publically to take revenge upon her refusal to marry him in June 2020.

Judicial magistrate (East) Mukesh Kumar pronounced his verdict reserved earlier.

He held that the prosecution succeeded in proving the charge of blemishing the dignity of the complainant and the family on one hand, while on the other hand, infuriating the modesty of the minor victim, making and producing obscene videos and displaying the same publically without her consent.

The judge awarded a collective imprisonment of 12 years to him for committing offence against the dignity and modesty of a minor, child pornography and cyberstalking. He was ordered to pay a collective fine of Rs180,000. On default, he would undergo a collective additional imprisonment for eight months.

Additionally, the convict was ordered to pay Rs1 million as compensation to the victim. On default, he would undergo imprisonment for six months.

The 15-year-old victim testified that the accused, who was living abroad, promised to marry her and asked for making her obscene videos, which she “mistakenly” did.

The judge noted that the accused, upon the refusal of his marriage proposal, got annoyed and displayed the illicit videos to take revenge from the minor victim and her family.

“This is a classic example of patriarchal, facile masculinity and misogynistic approach prevailing in this society where pendulum of male domination of the public has been violent, contested and culturally visible, especially in the given circumstances of this case, where a male cannot swallow ‘NO’ to his marriage proposal,” he observed.

The judge added that unfortunately or/and misfortunately, there is no contemplation towards the wish and desire of a woman that whom she wants to marry or whom she wants to be in relation with. “A consent to talk or share some personal space with a male person, without going into its legitimacy, does not mean at all that that personal space be violated and publically shared without her consent. Because ‘NO’ always remains ‘NO’ and no one can make a woman feel inferior without her consent.”

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2021