Man held for spreading fake video of G-B chief minister, IT minister

GILGIT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cybercrime Circle in Gilgit has arrested a suspect involved in disseminating fake and inappropriate video of Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan and Minister for Information Technology Suraiya Zaman through a fake Facebook account.

The accused identified as Inayatullah Hamza was apprehended from Darel Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The video was uploaded on a fake Facebook account impersonating Noorima Rehan, the renowned singer from Hunza famous for her work in Coke Studio. Posted on April 20, the video garnered over 150,000 views before being taken down.

The video features the chief minister along with Suraiya Zaman. The incident follows a similar case where singer Noorima Rehan herself was duped by such a fake video.

The suspect has been charged under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and Sections 500 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Section 506 pertains to criminal intimidation, while Section 500 deals with defamation. Section 109 deals with punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment.