Cyber Crimes (Part 2)

Now, the section our society focuses on most, the one people face most often, the section with the most cases, is about offences against the dignity of a natural person, attacking someone's honour, not physically, keep in mind that when we say honour, we mean under the provincial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, you should keep cyber crimes in mind. Keeping this in mind, when you drag someone's honour through the mud online, this too has a punishment, up to three years' imprisonment, a fine of up to one million rupees, or both. There's no need to explain this one by one right now, I'll explain it in the next lecture. For now I'm just making you aware that these laws exist, and if something like this happens to you, you can rest assured you can take action against it under this Act. Let me briefly explain: a natural person's dignity, say it was a girl, someone made an account in that girl's name, put that same girl's photo on it, and started spreading obscenity on that account, to give the impression that this girl has no morals, this girl is available to you, this girl is a call girl, this girl is a prostitute. If such a thing happens and that girl finds out that the whole world has seen me this way, and this has caused her great injustice, then a case can be registered against whoever did this under this crime. Then comes the matter of minors, the mistreatment children face. Children are also sexually abused and videos are made and uploaded. This too has been categorized, what goes how far, and in the end the punishment can go up to ten years. Then there's child pornography, if child pornography is created, the punishment for that is seven years. There's a malicious code, cyber stalking, spoofing. Now investigation comes next. There's authority to investigate, only an authorized person will conduct the investigation, whoever the government designates from time to time. Then access to everyone's related matters will be sought. A group can also do all of this, then it will be categorized within the group as to who did what, that will be the proper process, and as far as I've read this Act, since case law hasn't developed very well yet because cases aren't being reported enough. All the crimes in it are non-cognizable and compoundable, except for the crimes given in three sections, which are not, Sections 21 and 22, and Section 10. Let me tell you a bit about this Act in general terms, informationally, I've told you what's in the Act. Please, if something like this happens to you, which this Act provides a remedy for, don't set it aside thinking, well, they accessed my data, let it go, thinking there will be more disgrace, let's just close the matter, drop it. I'm not saying this because you'll get tangled up in complications. I'm saying this because if we don't shut this filthy chapter today, over time it will take on a horrifying shape. People used to say someone's honour was being auctioned off in the town square, now people's honour will be auctioned off at a global level. Only my own family used to see my daughter, if these crimes aren't stopped, the whole world will see my daughter. There are sensitive kinds of data, questions of decency, questions of child pornography. If we don't collectively take a stand on this, if we don't take unified national action against it, believe me, we will bear the consequences of it, and our future generations will also bear the consequences of it. Unfortunately, the internet is expensive everywhere in the world, it's cheap in Pakistan, but before the internet arrived, no one taught morality around it, no rules or regulations were made. The internet came to Pakistan around 1990, and interestingly, it came in 1990, and this Act is being made in 2016, it should have been made in 1990, it should have been made in the nineties, it was made in 2016, but nothing is lost yet. If we take action, if we stand up for our rights, this can be addressed. I hope, and one more thing, the courts are taking very strict action on this. The courts are not setting these cases aside, wherever evidence comes in, the courts stand firm on it. I hope I have given you some information about cyber crimes from my side.