PESHAWAR, July 23: In the first-ever conviction for child pornography in the province, a local child protection court on Tuesday sentenced a juvenile offender to four years imprisonment on two counts with a fine of Rs330,000.
The convict, a resident of Urmer village on the outskirts of Peshawar, was charged along with an absconding accused with making porn video of a minor girl and disseminating it through internet and CDs and cellphones.
He, around 16, is already in the judicial custody.
In his capacity as the child protection judge, Peshawar district and sessions judge Shehbar Khan pronounced the verdict convicting the boy under Section 48 (child pornography) and Section 50 (exposure to seduction) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010.
Under the former section, the convict was sentenced to four years imprisonment with fine of Rs300,000, while under the other section, he was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined Rs30,000.
However, the court ordered the concurrent running of the sentences.
The court also issued perpetual arrest warrants for the absconder.
The FIR of the case was registered at police station Urmer on Jan 5, 2012.
The victim, around 16, told the police that the pornographer in connivance with another friend made her porn video following which he blackmailed her.
She said because of their pressure she provided them valuable items from her house, including gold ornaments and money and finally when she could not give them more money, they first put her video and pictures on the internet and then disseminated it in the village through CDs.
Public prosecutor Qaisar Khan and lawyer Mian Mohammad Shoaib represented the victim and said the evidence on record was enough for the conviction of the accused.
They said police had recovered the cellphones, CDs and still pictures of the pornography victim from the possession of the suspect.
Initially, the case was registered under Section 376 of Pakistan Penal Code for rape but at the time of framing of the formal charge against the accused, the court referred the case to the district public prosecutor for opinion.
The district public prosecutor said child pornography was involved in the case and both the accused and victim were children for being below 18 and therefore, the provisions of the Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010 should be included in it.
The law defines child pornography as “taking, permits to be taken, with or without the consent of the child, any photograph, film, video, picture or representation, portrait, or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of obscene or sexually explicit conduct, where- the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in obscene or sexually explicit conduct; or such visual depiction is a digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaged in obscene or sexually explicit conduct; or such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in obscene or sexually explicit conduct, preparation, possession or distribution of any data stored on a computer disk or any other modern gadget.”
Deputy chief protection officer at Child Protection and Welfare Commission Ijaz Mohammad Khan told Dawn that it was the first-ever conviction for child pornography in the province.
He said while the commission had taken initiative in registering several cases under different provisions of the Act, such like convictions would help create awareness of the people, especially law-enforcement agencies, regarding the law.