Man fined for posting wife’s private photos on FB

Dubai, December 16: The Court of Appeal recently fined an Indian man Dh2,000 for posting private photographs of his wife on the social networking site, Facebook.

The court also slapped a fine of Dh1,000 on him for consuming liquor and quashed the deportation order handed down by the Court of Misdemeanours.

The Court of Misdemeanours had earlier dismissed the case after the defendant submitted a waiver from his wife relinquishing her rights to pursue the case against him for allegedly posting her photographs and details on Facebook, breaching her privacy.

The court had also imposed Dh1,000 in fine for consuming liquor and ordered that he be deported.

A Court of Appeal bench presided by Judge Dr Ahmed Al Mutawah did not take into consideration the wife’s relinquishing of her rights when handing down the verdict, observing that such a criminal charge may not be dismissed with the filing of a waiver. Posting others’ private photographs on a public forum is a crime that affects their reputation and personal life.

The defendant and his wife had been married for 12 years and have two children together. However, disagreements began to surface about four years back, which the wife blamed on his bad treatment of her and his habit of drinking liquor.

Both had been living alone for seven months prior to the complaint. During their split, the defendant posted on Facebook private photographs of his wife with her cousin which were taken before her marriage to him.

He tagged the photos with the line ‘she kicked her husband out to have a good time’ on his Facebook page.

He then text messaged her to have a look on his Facebook page, which upset her a lot and she lodged a complaint at the police station.

In the court, the defendant claimed he was intoxicated when he posted his wife’s photos on the Net.

During trial, the wife withdrew her complaint and surrendered her rights to sue him legally. But he had still to face the criminal charges as stipulated by the law.

The Public Prosecution challenged the verdict of the Court of Misdemeanours citing a flaw in implementing the law regarding the dismissal of the case for the offence of posting the private photos because of the waiver.

The prosecution requested that the Court of Appeal to rectify that flaw as per the Criminal Procedure Code.