News Source: Express Tribune
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairperson to immediately develop a mechanism to combat fake social media accounts used to harass women. A female private school teacher, who is a victim of a fake social media account, approached the court for justice.
Justice Salahuddin Panhwar while hearing the case said that the mechanism should scrutinise and identify owners of fake accounts so that action may be taken against them.
Justice Panhwar, in his remarks, said that fake social media accounts were destroying not just the lives of individuals but their families as well. The victim informed the court that Zohaib Hasan had sent a marriage proposal to her home, which her family had rejected knowing that Hasan was involved in suspicious activities. In order to take revenge against the rejection, Hasan made Facebook accounts under the teacher’s name and posted photoshopped images of her to defame her.
The victim said that this led to her sister’s divorce. She added that while the matter was reported to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), neither were the fake accounts shut down nor was the suspect apprehended by the authorities.
On the other hand, the FIA inspector, in his statement, said that mobile phone companies use a single IP address to provide internet connection to 5,000 customers. He added that it was the non-cooperation on the part of the private telecom operators that made it difficult to apprehend the suspect.
