Revenge porn complaints often swept under the rug or ignored

FIA’s mostly all male investigation teams are insensitive to plight of victims, do not ensure confidentiality

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

In a country where half the populace consists of women, the issues pertaining to women are often swept under the rug or classified as a family matter, which has resulted in women not only feeling unsafe in the country but also distrusting its criminal justice system.

For instance, despite the rise of social media and various feminist and human rights movements highlighting the plight of women in Pakistan, cases pertaining to revenge porn, are often ignored and many a time the victim’s dignity is compromised in the investigative process.

For Samreen’s family, a student of a private school in Peshawar, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, the ignorance vis-a-vis revenge porn hits too close to home. “A school fellow of my sister posted doctored pictures of her on social media, which resulted in great harm to our family and also led to her fiance leaving her,” recounted Samreen’s brother while talking to the Express Tribune.

“Nevertheless, we went to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with evidence about the doctored pictures but their unprofessional officers made our lives even more miserable. They refused to entertain a complaint unless the victim was present physically.”

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Samreen’s plight is shared by many other women across the country. “My former husband hacked my social media accounts and began blackmailing me about posting my pictures. When I finally mustered up the courage to report him to the FIA's Cyber Crime Wing (CCW), the officials did not express any interest in the complaint,” informed a victim from Lahore, who did not wish to be named.

“The FIA officials told me rather insensitively that nothing had happened yet and they could not take action unless my former husband acted upon the threat. Hence, they turned down my request for registering a complaint for lack of proof,” she added.

Even in instances where the FIA has registered a complaint of revenge porn, the all male investigation team has made many victims insecure about the fact that the evidence they attach with their complaint might get leaked. A university going student from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) informed the Express Tribune under the condition of anonymity that her friend was facing a similar predicament. “A male friend of hers leaked pictures of her in a WhatsApp group and ever since then her life has become hell. We convinced her to report to the FIA, which she did but now she lives in constant fear that the investigation team will use her pictures against her or leak them,” she disclosed.

Mehwish Muhib Kakakhel, a lawyer based in K-P, who works on cyber crime cases, remarked that the student’s fear was quite valid. “There is no guarantee that the evidence attached to complaints of revenge porn will be protected. The FIA cannot be trusted with such complaints,” said Kakahel.

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Laiba Qayyum, a lawyer based in Islamabad, agrees. “All male investigation teams may present a concerning scenario where the right to dignity of a victim may be compromised. Therefore, a victim will understandably feel hesitant to share the details of a crime perpetrated against them to a male officer,” said Qayyum, further adding that any efficacious grievance redressal mechanism should encompass protocols that ardently champion victim centric or trauma centric paradigms but such an ethos is absent in Pakistan.

Qayyum was also of the view that the prevalent SOPs of the FIA’s CCW, for cybercrime complaints present a paradoxical scenario. “While they permit pseudo or anonymous complaints, they also mandate in-person attendance of the victim. This places victims who fear identity disclosure in a precarious situation, as their complaints may face closure after just two notices, potentially discouraging them from seeking legal redress,” the lawyer explained.

Given the FIA’s problematic complaint redressal system and its mostly all male investigation teams, many women do not end up reporting revenge porn and instead have to contend with the host of problems that the crime perpetuates. “Victims of revenge porn face a range of severe psychological issues, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation,” informed Dr Rafia Rafique, a health psychologist and Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Punjab, further adding that when intimate images or videos are shared without consent, victims often experience intense shame, humiliation, and a sense of powerlessness.

“Suicide is also common among such victims although the link between revenge porn and suicide attempts is complex but it can be attributed to the extreme emotional turmoil victims endure,” Dr Rafique added.

Concurring with Dr Rafique, Dr Uzma Ashiq Khan, who is the Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at the Lahore College for Women University and a clinical psychologist, stated that the emotional turmoil does not stop even when complaints are registered. “When a case of revenge porn is presented in court the humiliation faced by the victim is intensified by a lack of female representation in the investigative process especially for reviewing the sensitive content. This pressing issue needs to be addressed,” implored Dr Khan.

Qayyum suggests that the FIA can do so through strict access controls by only allowing the individuals directly deployed on the case to access the file, making their employees sign a confidentiality oath, allowing use of pseudonyms while filing of complaints “and by hiring more women officers.”

While it remains to be seen whether FIA will pay any heed to the suggestions, Director Cyber Crime FIA, Punjab, Jahanzaib Nazir, when asked about the agency’s insensitivity towards revenge porn, told the Express Tribune that it is true that the rate of blackmailing of women is increasing day by day. “To prevent this, the government has given special tasks to the FIA, which are being implemented. We are going to organise lectures in schools and colleges, so that people are aware of this crime,” informed Nazir.

(Additional reporting by Razzak Abro, Khalid Rasheed)