ISLAMABAD: The female complainant in a case pertaining to sexual harassment of an Islamabad-based couple Wednesday, yet again, refused to identify the prime suspect Usman Mirza.
“I am being pressured to pursue the case,” she told Islamabad High Court (IHC).
She and her partner had accused Usman Mirza, a local influential and the prime suspect, and his friends of harassing, torturing, and filming them in the E-11 sector in July.
A police probe into the incident — videos of which went viral on social media — revealed the victims were forced to perform sex in front of members of the gang, and the woman was tortured to perform a nude dance and recorded.
However, in a twisted turn of events, the woman, who was scheduled to testify and cross-examined before a trial court against Mirza, January 11 sought permanent exemption from the case, maintaining she could neither pursue the case nor want to appear in person before the court.
She also refused to identify the accused and claimed she saw them for the first time in the police station.
The Ministry for Law and Justice, subsequently, decided to pursue the case “irrespective of recent developments relating to the victim’s testimony”.
Today, the second complainant, the victim’s partner, said during a cross-examination he was called to the Golra Sharif police station “almost four to five times” after the case was registered.
“Inspector Shafqat [at the police station] pressured me into signing a plain document,” he claimed. “I didn’t record any statement on July 8.”
He insisted he couldn’t recall the details of the incident. “I don’t even remember what I was wearing that day,” he said. At this, prosecutor Rana Hasan Abbas requested the court to replay the footage. He was granted permission by Judicial Magistrate Atta Rabbani.
Mirza, the co-owner of a car business in Islamabad, was arrested when the videos surfaced on the internet. During raids in the following days, his accomplices were nabbed from 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 two who allegedly are now married.
Days after the arrests, another woman came forward, telling journalists that she, too, was harassed and blackmailed by Mirza “for quite some time.”
Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan instructed authorities to provide him regular follow-up reports in the case.
“These cases can be brought to a logical conclusion only be regular followups,” he said. “Protecting the rights of citizens is the foremost responsibility of the government.”
“In any case, the state will pursue these cases and bring severe punishment to the accused,” he added.
