The female victim in the Islamabad couple harassment case retracted her statement against the accused and informed the trial court that she did not wish to pursue the case, on Tuesday.
It is pertinent to note that the case had surfaced when a video of four persons holding a couple at gunpoint, forcing them to strip and then beating them up had gone viral on social media last year in July.
Initially, the police submitted the case challan against Usman Mirza, who has been accused of sexually harassing, torturing, and filming a young couple in Islamabad’s E-11 at a hearing at an Islamabad sessions court, wherein the challan has revealed disturbing details on the nature of the harassment.
Usman Mirza and accomplice Abrar were prime suspects in the case and will be indicted on September 28.
The suspects filmed inappropriate videos of the couple and then blackmailed them for money. The police seized weapons and mobile phones through which the videos were recorded.
Asim Ghaffar, a sub-inspector of the Golra police station said he lodged the complaint against the suspects with police after he watched the sexually explicit video on a cellphone.
Sub-Inspector Asim Ghaffar of the Golra police station lodged a complaint against the accused with the police after watching the objectionable video on a mobile phone.
As per details of the challan, Mirza took Rs600,000 of the money while Umar Bilal extorted the man for Rs150,000. Mohib Bangash received Rs125,000, Rehan Hussain Mughal Rs100,000, and the rest Rs50,000 each.
Usman Mirza was arrested in early July after a video of him assaulting and getting violent against a young couple sparked outrage across Pakistani Twitter, with #ArrestUsmanMirza appearing on the top trends.
According to the couple, Mirza abused and ridiculed them while filming the crime. The couple’s statements, recorded in front of the judicial magistrate, have been included in the case challan as well.
“The men extorted Rs1.15 million from the complainants,” the investigation officer told the court. Of this, Rs600,000 were taken by Mirza and the remaining amount was distributed among other suspects, he added.
At the previous hearing, the court extended the suspects’ judicial remand for 14 days. They are presently behind bars at the Adiala Jail.
Usman Mirza, the co-owner of car business in Islamabad, was arrested when a video surfaced on the internet showing him harassing and torturing a young couple at an apartment in Sector E-11. During raids in the next few days, his accomplices were nabbed from different areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Later, investigations revealed that Mirza had not only tortured and filmed the couple but also blackmailed and extorted money from them. He was said to have received millions of rupees from the young man and woman, who are now married.
Days after the arrests, another woman told journalists that she, too, had been harassed and blackmailed by Mirza ‘for quite some time.’
Last month, Islamabad Police DIG Afzal Kausar had told a press conference that they had added new charges in the FIR under at least seven sections of the Pakistan Penal Code. He named the following sections: 375 (rape), 384 (punishment for extortion), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), 395 (punishment of dacoity), 496-A (enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a woman), 377-B (sexual abuse).
Additional District and Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani presided over today’s hearing where Mirza and the others were also produced before the court.
During the hearing, the accused’s lawyers cross-examined the girl, who told the judge that she did not go to Adiala Jail and had not taken part in the identification parade.
She said that police officials had visited her multiple times and asked for her signature and thumbprint on blank pieces of paper. “I do not know any of the accused and do not want to pursue the case,” she stated.
She also singled out one of the accused, Rehan, and said that she did not know him and he did not make the video. She said that the police had “made up” the whole thing.
She also submitted a stamp paper in court and said that she had not submitted the same under any “pressure”. “I did not identify any of the accused and did not sign any papers,” she said.
She also told the court that she did not pay ransom to anyone. She said that none of the accused had tried to sexually assault her.
In the affidavit, the girl said that the accused arrested in the case were not those who were recorded in the video of the incident.
She stated that she was submitting this affidavit of her own free will and free of any pressure.
She said that none of the accused arrested in the case forced themselves upon her, make any videos or forcibly strip the couple.
She also said that she had not identified any of the arrested suspects in front of the police or a judicial magistrate, adding that she did not want to take any sort of action against any of those arrested or nominated in the case.
She also told the court that she did not want to appear for subsequent hearings in the case.
However, the judge told her that she would have to appear and adjourned the hearing for January 18.
