Man jailed in UAE for calling fiancée ‘idiot’ on WhatsApp

A man has been jailed here for 60 days and fined 20,000 dirhams (around Rs 4 lakh) for calling his fiancée an “idiot” in a WhatsApp message.

The man claimed to have used the word in a joking manner but his fiancée took it as an insult and filed a court case against him, the Khaleej Times reported on Tuesday.

This case, the daily said, was one of the several court cases filed on the premise of a person sending something on WhatsApp as a “joke”, which the other person took “seriously”.

The report said that as per the law, sending anything of an offensive nature on social media is considered a cybercrime. Perpetrators will be jailed and face hefty fines.

In a second case, a young man landed in court for broadcasting an explicit clip on WhatsApp to a woman on his contact list, according to the daily.

The man, however, claimed in court that he sent the message by accident without checking the material beforehand.

Another man was detained for sending explicit videos and texts to six women in a third case. He testified that his mobile phone had been stolen and he had no idea who was sending the explicit content.

Legal consultant Hasan Al Reyami said that any content sent on social media or messaging services will lead to prosecution under the cybercrimes law. This applies to messages sent on purpose or by “accident”, he said.