Gilgit court raises convicted blackmailer’s jail term to five years

GILGIT: The Special Court for Cyber Crimes in Gilgit has enhanced the sentence of a convict involved in harassing and blackmailing a woman, increasing his imprisonment to five years.

“The accused continuously harassed and blackmailed the victim, demanding sexual favors at different intervals to avoid further dissemination of the explicit content. This caused significant mental distress to the victim and her family,” reads the conviction report.

The decision was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Sharif, who found the punishment originally awarded by the trial court insufficient.

The convict, Zulfiqar Ali, a resident of Nomal, had earlier been sentenced by a trial court for violating sections of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Despite pleading guilty to the charges, the trial court had shown leniency, applying Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and counting the four months he spent in jail during the trial towards his sentence.

Also read: FIA Gilgit arrests two for blackmailing girl on social media

Speaking to HUM News, Advocate Farhan Ali, the counsel for the complainant, explained that following the initial verdict, a criminal revision was filed in the Special Court for Cyber Crimes. The state, represented by Advocate Dildar Hussain, also became a party in the case.

After hearing the arguments, Judge Muhammad Sharif found the initial four-month sentence inadequate and enhanced it to five years.

According to the court’s short order, Zulfiqar Ali was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 20 of PECA, five years under Section 21 of PECA, and three years under Section 24 of PECA.

Additionally, under Section 506 of the PPC, he was sentenced to two years, and under Section 509 of the PPC, he was given three years’ imprisonment. The court ordered that the sentences would run concurrently and that the convict would receive the benefit of Section 382-B CrPC.