A man was arrested after he was found guilty of sharing allegedly objectionable pictures of his former wife online. A Rawalpindi court sentenced the suspect Hameedullah to four-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs2 million.
The additional district and sessions judge also ordered the suspect to pay Rs200,000 as compensation.
The suspect Hameedullah was on bail, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested him from outside the court. Hameedullah had shared allegedly indecent pictures of his former wife on social media.
Reportedly, the suspect had demanded Rs5.5 million as extortion, and upon refusal, he made the pictures viral online.
The FIA Cyber Crimes Cell had registered a case against Hameedullah on February 3, 2021.
The court sentenced suspect Hameedullah to two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million under Section 21 of the The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
Under Section 24 of the law, the suspect was sentenced to a further two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million.
Late last month, the government decided to form a separate regulatory authority for online content on the style of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in order to keep an eye on the growing cybercrime and to prevent it.
A bill related to the E-Safety Authority was sent by the Ministry of IT to the federal cabinet, which approved it. The authority will also monitor the websites of TV channels and newspapers. The new regulatory authority will be called the E-Safety Authority, which is expected to monitor all the websites.
The authority will have the power to rant permission for websites and impose fines in case of violations. According to the bill, the authority will also have the power to grant licenses to web channels.
Following its approval, the web monitoring authority will be withdrawn from the PTA.
The powers given to the FIA under the PECA were deemed insufficient, while the social media rules created under the same law also did not prove to be effective. The PTA will not be empowered to block content on social media, according to the bill.
It also mentions that no separate authority was created to deal with cybercrime as was given in PECA. The task was given to the FIA, which was already overburdened with other matters.
The federal government has also decided to register websites, web channels, and YouTube channels. The powers of the PTA, and FIA cybercrimes wing will be transferred to the new authority.
