2018 P Cr (PLP)
MUHAMMAD ASHRAF — Petitioner Versus The STATE and another — Respondents
| Citation | 2018 P Cr (PLP) |
| Forum / Court | Lahore |
| Bench Members | N/A |
| Parties | MUHAMMAD ASHRAF — Petitioner Versus The STATE and another — Respondents |
| Primary Law | Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (XL of 2016) |
Q1: What are the key laws and sections cited in 2018 P Cr (PLP)?
This judgment primarily cites: Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (XL of 2016) as referenced in Pakistani case law index.
Q2: Which judicial bench decided the case 2018 P Cr (PLP)?
The case was heard and decided by the Lahore bench comprising: N/A.
Q3: What is the official citation format for this judgment on Pakistan Law Portal?
Cite this legal precedent as: 2018 P Cr (PLP) (MUHAMMAD ASHRAF — Petitioner Versus The STATE and another — Respondents). Read the full summary and cross-referenced laws free on Pakistan Law Portal.
Laws Cited
Representation
- Asim Nawaz Guggar for Petitioner.
Headnotes / Summary
Ss. 20, 21 & 24
Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 420 & 109
Disseminating pictures of a woman on social media for soliciting monetary and carnal favours
Accused, who was in an intimate relationship with the female victim, allegedly distributed the latter's obscene pictures through a fake social media account in order to get sexual and financial favours from her
Accused unmistakably featured with the victim in the pictures secured during investigation and as such his argument that the pictures were manipulated to frame him was preposterous
Victim's naive intimacy with the accused could not be pleaded as defence by the accused for his grievous misconduct based upon a criminal betrayal resulting into unmitigated intrusion in a woman's privacy
Accused could not claim bail as a matter of right merely on the ground that the offences alleged did not fall within the prohibitory clause of S. 497, Cr.P.C., as in appropriate cases bail could be denied justifiably in offences falling outside such prohibition
Accused was denied post-arrest bail accordingly.
Judgment & Decree
QAZI MUHAMMAD AMIN AHMED, J.
Muhammad Ashraf, petitioner herein, seeks admission to post arrest bail; he is accused in a case registered with Cyber Crime Circle FIA Lahore under sections 20, 21 and 24 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 read with sections 420, 500 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860. According to the complainant, her daughter Sobia Bibi was allured into a cyber-communication by the petitioner; it graduated into a more intimate liaison with frequent meetings culminating into prosecutrix's graphic exposure, captured by the petitioner, subsequently disseminated through a fake Facebook I.D; it is prosecution's case that the petitioner confronted her with his betrayal to solicit favours, monetary as well as carnal, leaving the family with no option but to share the dilemma with the Federal Investigation Agency. As the investigation progressed, devices secured by the Investigating Officer generated porno graphic images, shockingly abhorrent, depicting the couple in most obscene physical configurations.
2. Heard. Record perused.
3. The petitioner unmistakably figures with the prosecutrix in the stills generated by the Investigating Officer from the medium secured during investigation and as such argument that these have been manipulated to frame him in the crime is preposterous to say the least; for the family, it is too heavy a price to foot and for no apparent purpose but to incur a disgustingly perennial embarrassment. Prosecutrix's na ve volitional intimacy cannot be pleaded as a defence for a most grievous misconduct based upon a criminal betrayal resulting into unmitigated intrusion into a woman's privacy. Similarly, petitioner cannot claim bail as of right merely on the ground that offences complained do not fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. It is by now well settled that in appropriate cases bail can be justifiably declined in offences falling outside the prohibition; in the present case, it can be withheld without being unconscionable. Crl. Misc. No. 220033-B of 2018 fails; petition dismissed. Needless to observe that observations recorded hereinabove being tentative/issue specific shall not impact upon the fate of the case, to be decided by the learned trial Court on the strength of evidence. MWA/M-135/L Bail refused.