The case of Usman Mirza, the main accused in the Islamabad stripping case, seems to have taken a new turn. It seems that this was not an isolated incident, but one of a series. It seems that he and his accomplices made a practice of renting rooms to desperate couples, bursting in on them, and then filming them. However, perhaps more shocking has been his video, in which he boasts he will get off scot-free. This video, in which he boasts of his contacts, has gone viral as rapidly as the one of him grossly insulting the couple that came in his trap. It is worrisome, for it means that he has got at least skeleton electronic equipment in the lock-up. Also, is it possible that he was not shooting the videos for sexual gratification alone, but for commercial reasons? There have been two previous cases, in Kasur and Sargodha, where such videos were made so that they could be sold abroad.
While the authorities deserve praise for having acted promptly in this case, there seems a worrying trend of taking action only when proof of a crime goes viral on the Internet. This trend is worrying not because it reflects any technical savvy in the law enforcement agencies, but that they will not act until pushed to by their political masters. It seems that they in turn will only order action if they have a fear of public pressure. Obviously the emotions with which the investigations are carried out will not be propitious for a conviction. There is also a problem in the attitude of the police, which was revealed by the then DPO Lahore, who victim-shamed the woman criminally assaulted in front of her children. With an attitude like that, investigations are going to be skewed in favour of the criminals. The purpose of carrying out ironclad investigations, providing proof that not even a clever defence lawyer can shake, is not just to provide victims justice in that case, but to ensure that any future perpetrator thinks twice before committing a crime. Instead of being so sure of his invulnerability as to boast of it on social media, he must feel the inevitability of being caught.
