KARACHI: A man was given a six-year prison sentence by a judicial magistrate for making fictitious Facebook profiles under his friend’s name and using them to post offensive images of her in an effort to blackmail her after she rejected his engagement proposal.
Abdullah Saleem was found guilty of violating Sections 20 (dignity of natural person), 21 (modesty of natural person and minor), and 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 by Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq. He was given two years in prison for each of the charges.
It is evident that the charge against the accused has been successfully substantiated by the prosecution. The court noted that the prosecution had proven that the accused had breached the modesty of the complaint, damaged the dignity of the complainant and her family, and publicly displayed footage without the complainant’s consent.
In elucidating the accused’s motivation, the court observed that the evidence demonstrated his annoyance and bitterness over the denial of a formal meeting with the complainant because of his anger management problems.
He is found guilty by the magistrate of cyberstalking and other offenses under Peca
The court further noted that in an attempt to exact retribution and harm the complainant’s honor and character, the accused had intimidated her and begun harassing her by setting up fictitious social media profiles and utilizing them to send her pictures.
In her testimony, the complainant said that she had a friendship with the accused that ended because of his inappropriate behavior, according to state prosecutor Sheraz Rajpar. In order to blackmail the complainant and her family, the accused later turned to making fictitious Facebook profiles under her name and posting her private images.
“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,” the prosecution stated in the complainant’s deposition.
Prosecutor Sheraz contended during the trial that the verification report, screenshots, IP logs, WhatsApp records, and the comprehensive forensic report supported the complainant’s testimony. He also mentioned that the accused had given the investigators his phone during the inquiry stage, and that following forensic analysis, it was discovered that the “fake accounts and transmissions were linked to the accused’s number and IP address.”
However, the accused refuted the accusations and asserted that the complainant had wrongfully implicated him in the crime. The judge, however, dismissed the defense’s request and pointed out that the defense had not provided enough solid evidence to back up its assertions.
For violations of Sections 20, 21, and 24 of the Peca, a case was filed at the Cyber Crime Cell of the Federal Investigation Agency.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
