A has-been film-star with a knack for foot-in-mouth moments was recently at the centre of a sex scandal after an intimate video of her and her husband was released online. What didn’t make headlines was the imprisonment of a teenager who raped a minor girl in Peshawar, filmed the ordeal, blackmailed the rape survivour’s family and eventually floated the videos in the community and online.

The news was barely picked up by any leading channel and only a few newspapers reported it, and thus the larger public remained ignorant that the Peshawar High Court did a commendable job in doling out a harsh punishment or how similar cases can be dealt accordingly.

The Peshawar case is not the first time that an individual was raped and the ordeal was filmed and shared online.

Almost a decade ago, the Rawalpindi net café case was highlighted by a news channel. A net café owner provided privacy to consenting couples as well as paedophiles, and unbeknown to them filmed their moves. The net café CDs were sold all over Pakistani and once people tracked down the men and women involved, a number of suicide cases were reported. However, no one was able to identify the middle aged man who raped a minor girl on film.

A coordinator of a TV show that ran an in-depth story on the Pindi net café recalls how painful it was to view the helplessness of the child for research reasons. “I can’t imagine anyone considering it to be porn and getting aroused by it but then you have all sorts of sick people.”

No formal charges were pressed and the news died down eventually.

In 2012, a pre-teen girl was raped in Jhang and faced a similar situation. Only after a buzz was generated on social media and the chief minister Punjab took notice of the news that the culprits were arrested.

In one case, a girl from Toba Tek Singh was raped over a period of three months by a pir. The man gave her sedatives and carried out the heinous act and filmed the ordeal. Only after she managed to run away and file a complaint that the cycle of abuse ended.

In another case, a schoolgirl from Lahore was raped by her neighbours. The boys extorted money from her and forced her into having sex with other boys. They were apprehended when the victim’s family contacted police. However, both cases remain pending.

Then there have been countless instances when a former boyfriend or ex-husband released private photos of a woman online, causing her reputation serious harm.

Still not our issue?

Of the so many issues that Pakistanis are always in denial of and vehemently say ‘yeh hamara masla nahi hay’, ‘revenge porn’ seems to be the latest one.

In ‘Criminalising revenge porn: A quick guide’, Mary Anne Franks describes the term as ‘sexually explicit media that is publicly shared online without the consent of the pictured individual’.

Though many are not familiar with the term in particular, very often the vernacular press splashes around a case or two where this or that x-rated video was released.

Since Meera’s video scandal came out, the debate in public sphere has remained firmly focused on how she is using it for more fame. What was ignored was the idea that the video could actually be a violation of her privacy as a human or whether Pakistan has any laws to deal with such cases.

Many doubt her claims of ‘leaked video’ just as they did when her rival Veena Malik screamed ‘photoshop’ about her ISI-tattoo photos. In this mess of tease and sleaze, what remains largely ignored is the fact that with zero checks and balances, Pakistanis are facing some tough times when it comes to digital security.

“Of late, there have been instances where individuals were kidnapped, drugged, raped and the ordeal was filmed.

Later on, the victims were blackmailed into have sex with more people and asked to pay.

In all cases, the videos were eventually released in the community as well as online,” says an official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

“I fail to understand why anyone would want to take a naked picture and email it to a partner in a steady relationship. As many as 90 per cent of the complaints that we have had are of jilted lovers and vindictive ex-husbands,” he says.

A quick trip to any video market is an eye-opener. Intimate moments of former couples are marketed as ‘Pakistani Porn’, with Karachi’s Rainbow Centre mass producing DVDs of these MMS clips and even exporting them to Gulf countries.

In some cases, girls who sent their phones for repairs often become victims too as the data ended up in the wrong hands. Some pics are uploaded under such horrible taglines including ‘Hot Pakistani nude girl’ (the girls in question are not even nude but were left scandalised).

The most disturbing are the ones where rape and peadophilia videos were made.

“In our society, men remain unaccountable. A man is glorified for his manhood. Even if he circulates the videos of his ex-wife, no one will blame him but everyone will question as to why did a woman agree to get filmed,” says R, a woman who has been at the receiving end of a malicious campaign initiated by her ex-husband.

The patriarchal notions are unlikely to change anytime soon, with the Kohistan video being a prime example.

It wasn’t the women who were singing in the video that irked the elders, rather it was the idea that ‘namahram’ men had looked at their women and hence violated their honour that led to the unfortunate incident.

“I found myself at the centre of a leaked pics controversy thanks to my ex-fiancé,” says A, a university student.

“Although there were no objectionable pics, the angry ex morphed some photos onto the body of pornstars and emailed them to everyone in my office and university,” she adds. The results were devastating.

“My father was really hurt and it took him a while to understand that the photos were doctored but I cannot go around telling each and every person I know that the images were doctored. Also, details including my address, phone numbers and where I studied and work were posted on various sites in ‘call girl available in Islamabad’,” she says ruefully.

No law virtually

Pages on Facebook including the ‘Islamabad Lahore Scandals’, Kips Confessions, Crushes & Scandals Islamabad’, ‘Girls of Islamabad, Rawalpindi (twin cities) and Lahore’ and ‘Islamabad Girls’, where photos and details have been posted by anonymous posters.

The pages encourage users to share salacious gossip. For a generation growing up posting selfies with the perfect duck-faced pouts along with some bordering on obscenity, revenge porn is a harsh reality.

However, there is barely any awareness or laws to deal with the situation.

In the year 2007, the then president, Pervez Musharraf, promulgated the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO) 2007. However, this lapsed in 2010.

Currently, the government is working on the proposed Electronic Documents and Prevention of Cybercrimes Act 2014 and setting up a cyber authority.

One of the harshest critics of the proposed law is Nighat Dad, director Digital Rights Foundation. In a recently published article, she said the ‘Cyber Crimes Act, 2014 is open for anyone’s perusal and shows just how insecure, fragile and extreme it is when it comes to the suggested punishments’.

Sharing her observations with Dawn, she says that cyber safety is an important issue for anyone going online and the current lack of cybercrime laws affect victims the most.

“If a complainant approached the cyber wing of the FIA through some big shot, the treatment is very different as compared to a common man/woman coming forward with a complaint,” she says. Most cases where a video has been leaked are dealt under the present rape laws.

However, this can backfire in many cases where the victim happens to be a woman and can be implicated under the Hudood Laws for adultery.

“At this point, Pakistan urgently needs privacy protection law. Article 14 of the Constitution vaguely deals with some privacy; however, it is confided to the ‘home’ only,” she said.

Article 14 deals with inviolability of dignity of man, etc.

(1) The dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.

“There is also the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (ETO) 2002’s Section 36 – Violation of privacy – where a person can be imprisoned for up to 7 years but this remains more focused towards the corporate sector,” she adds.

She further says that prevention is another step that needs to focused on.

“Secure yourself digitally. We have no cyber crime laws or legal remedies available to deal with revenge porn and blackmail,” she says.

“Delete photos and videos from your mobile phones, even simple photos,” she says, adding that one never knows if the images would be manipulated and end up on a porn site.

Not all hope is lost

As the digital rights activists go round and round in circles to get the government to come up with cyber laws that are ‘people friendly’, they have figured out some ways and means to beat the system while staying within the system. Take for instance the cases where individuals have been raped/sodomoised and videotaped/blackmailed.

“There are numerous laws which can be applied. What we need to do is create awareness so that people know how to deal with such cases,” says Furhan Hussain, coordinator advocacy & outreach, digital security trainer, Bytes For All.

“The Telegraph Act 1885 might seem archaic but it has some provisions that can deal with hacking, invasion of privacy and obscene material being circulated. Section 25D deals with intimation and carries a punishment for 3 years while Section 29 deals with dissemination of content and can lead to 3 years imprisonment,” says Hussain.

Both Dad and Hussain say that going off-line is not the way out but rather creating awareness, be it teaching personal safety tips to children or taking measure to keep one safe online and offline.