Islamabad: The Senate has approved the amendment bill to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), allowing the federal government to enter into mutual legal assistance treaties with countries whose social media applications are used in Pakistan in order to strengthen legal cooperation in cybercrime cases.
The upper house also passed an amendment to criminal laws, stating that failure to conduct a medical examination of a rape victim, whether male or female, will result in up to one year of imprisonment, along with a fine. According to the bill, private or public hospitals that fail to provide immediate first aid to a rape victim will also face penalties, while private hospitals will be bound to refer the victim to a government hospital within 24 hours.
The Senate further approved amendments to the Electronic Crimes Act, increasing the punishment for crimes involving child pornography from seven years to ten years in prison and raising the fine from Rs5 million to Rs10 million, in an effort to impose stricter penalties on such offenses.
In addition, the Senate passed Samina Zehri’s Family Court Amendment Bill and Sherry Rehman’s bill banning plastic covers on books in Islamabad, marking further legislative developments in related sectors.
