17 December 2022
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE: A court in Karachi on Saturday sent Dania Shah, the third wife of late television host Amir Liaquat, on judicial remand after her arrest in connection with charges of leaking her husband’s intimate videos on social media.
The Judicial Magistrate East turned down the Federal Investigation Agency(FIA)’s request for the physical remand of Dania Shah, noting that she was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of her arrest from her hometown of Lodhran in Punjab on December 15.
The FIA investigation officer told the court that they were delayed by ten minutes in bringing Dania Shah to court yesterday but by that time the judge had left the courtroom. The judge observed that detention becomes illegal after failing to produce an accused before a court within twenty-four hours.
In her statement to the court, Dania Shah denied recording and sharing the leaked videos on social media saying she had nothing to do with the matter. “I am being trapped in the case over my inheritance in my late husband’s property, the whole issue is about the property,” Dania told the court in her statement.
The judge said the facts of the case would come out after the investigation is completed. The counsel for Dania Shah opposed the FIA’s request for physical remand saying that the investigation could be conducted in jail.
The investigating officer produced the video evidence before the court on a USB drive. The judge reviewed the video on a laptop in the courtroom.
In her statement, Amir Liaquat’s former first wife Bushra Iqbal said Daniya’s voice could be heard in the leaked videos. In several interviews Dania Shah had admitted to recording the intimate video, Bushra Iqbal added. The judge sent Dania Shah on judicial remand to jail.
On July 27, Dua Aamir, the daughter of Amir Liaquat, lodged a complaint against her stepmother Dania Shah for leaking intimate videos of her father who died in June from stress and depression caused by videos going viral on social media. The videos appeared on social media in May.
Dania Shah charged with cybercrime offences of violating modesty and dignity, cyberstalking
During the course of the FIA inquiry, the investigation officer recorded the statement of the complainant, collected evidence provided by the complainant, and material available on social media.
According to the first investigation report, a copy of which is available to Voiepk.net, the inquiry concluded that Dania Shah “being the third wife of deceased Aamir Liaquat recorded his obscene videos with the intention to use these videos to humiliate him”. The FIR also mentions the URL of Dania’s interview in which she allegedly speaks of her “intentions to display such obscene videos and subsequently she transmitted these videos publically through social media on 11.05.2022 and onward with false facts in respect of Aamir Liaquat”.
The FIR also stated that she also accepted her criminal act publically in different interviews available at different links. “Prime facie it is established that Dania Bibi made sexually explicit videos of her husband Aamir Liaquat and transmitted the same publically to create hatred against his modesty that resulted in fear of violence and distress in the mind of deceased Aamir Liaquat.”
Dania Shah was charged with offences under Section 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person), Section 21 (offences against modesty of a natural person and minor), and Section 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016. The offences carry a maximum of three to five years imprisonment with the imposition of up to one million rupees in fine. In interviews with reporters, Dania Shah’s mother, Salma, accused police officers of torturing other family members and her daughter during the raid on her Lodhran home.
