A court on Thursday handed down a collective sentence of nine years in prison to a man in a five-year-old case pertaining to sharing obscene videos and images of his ex-fiancée on social media sites.
Muhammad Shoaib was found guilty of committing offences as defined under the Sections 20 (offenses against dignity of a natural person), 21 (offences against modesty of a natural person and minor), and 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq awarded three-year imprisonment to the accused on each count and ordered him to pay a Rs90,000 fine or undergo an additional one-month imprisonment. She ruled that the prosecution had successfully proved the charges against the accused, demonstrating that he tarnished the dignity of the victim and her family and violated her modesty.
The magistrate observed that Shoaib seemed to be motivated by personal resentment and hostility after his engagement with the victim was called off. “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,” she added.
“His behavior indicates a deliberate intention to damage the victim’s reputation and inflict emotional distress, as supported by the incriminating material obtained during forensic investigation and the consistent testimonies provided by the complainant and prosecution witnesses.”
According to the prosecution, on September 17, 2019, a citizen lodged a complaint with the the FIA Cybercrime Circle, stating that the accused Shoaib shared his daughter’s obscene images and videos on social media platforms. He said that these images were circulated on Instagram and Facebook, causing distress to the victim and her family.
The complainant said that his daughter was engaged to the accused but the engagement had been called off prior to the incident. He claimed that the accused had already been convicted by a court in a similar case lodged against him by the victim in 2017. He said the accused was a habitual offender who continued to harass his daughter.
In his testimony, the victim described how she learned from relatives and university fellows that her obscene pictures were being circulated on Facebook, Instagram and Gmail. She said that Shoaib was her ex-fiancé and that the incident occurred after their engagement had ended.
During the trial, investigation officer Ameer Ali said that the accused was using a VPN and an email account linked to a certain IP address, which belonged to Shoaib. He said forensic analysis of a mobile phone and a memory card seized from the accused confirmed the presence of incriminating content. In his statement under the Section 342 of the criminal procedure code (CrPC), the accused rejected the allegations of the prosecution.
