Supreme Court rules dismissal of case involving blackmail through impersonation of a woman was unlawful

The Supreme Court has overturned rulings by the lower court and the High Court in a case involving an individual who posed as a woman to obtain explicit photos and use them for blackmail.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the dismissal of charges against the defendant, Mohamed Fawaz Luthfee, was unlawful.

This case involves charges filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office against Mohamed Fawaz Luthufee under Section 35 of the Sexual Offences Act. He is accused of impersonating a woman through telecommunication platforms to obtain explicit photos and videos, which he subsequently used for blackmail. However, the Criminal Court had previously ruled that the case could not proceed under the civil burden of proof standard, as stipulated in Section 115 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

The Criminal Court dismissed the case on the grounds that no direct physical or material sexual contact had occurred prior to the blackmail. A majority of the High Court has since upheld the lower court's decision.

However, the Supreme Court judges ruled unanimously to overturn the decisions made by both the Criminal Court and the High Court. The Supreme Court determined that the blackmail charges filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office met the civil threshold required to proceed with the case.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has ordered the Criminal Court to conduct a retrial and reach a verdict in the case against Mohamed Fawaz Luthfee. The court's ruling further stipulated that if the Prosecutor General’s Office resubmits the case, proceedings must resume from the stage at which they were previously halted.