KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Thursday sentenced a man to a total of nine years in prison on three counts for sharing indecent images and videos of his former fiancée on Facebook and Instagram by using fake IDs.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq found Muhammad Shoaib guilty of the offences under Sections 20 (dignity of natural person), 21 (modesty of natural person and minor), 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 and awarded him three-year imprisonment on each count.

The court also imposed a fine of a total Rs90,000, and on default, the convict would undergo an additional imprisonment.

“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,” the court observed.

“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 stated in the detailed order.

The court also noted that the prosecution witnesses and material obtained through forensic investigation suggested that the accused had damaged the victim’s reputation and inflicted emotional distress with “deliberate intention”.

Mentioning another FIR registered against the accused by his same ex-fiancée in 2017, the order stated that he was convicted in August 2020, for similar offences by using different social media platforms, including Gmail and Facebook.

However, the conviction was later challenged in the Sindh High Court, 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 medium were Facebook and Gmail,” the court ruled.

Assistant Director-Legal Sheraz Rajpar of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said that the victim’s father had lodged a complaint against the suspect.

The complainant informed the FIA Cyber Crime Cell that in September 2019, his daughter’s images and videos were being shared through Instagram and Facebook which caused distress to his daughter and his family.

He also stated that his daughter had been engaged with the accused, but this relationship had been ended prior to this incident.

According to the FIA, the forensic analysis report of the seized electronic devices from the accused revealed that the he had used different social media platforms to harass the victim and shared her inappropriate images.

On the other hand, the defence counsel contended that his client was falsely implicated in this crime and alleged that the case property had been fabricated against his client.

However, the court rejected the defence plea and noted that the evidence available before the court linked the accused to the alleged social media accounts.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024