LAHORE: An Additional District and Sessions court on Saturday granted pre-arrest bail to three schoolgirls who were charged with allegedly torturing their class fellow at a private school in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area of Lahore.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal took up the bail plea filed by three of the suspects.
During hearing, Advocate Mian Rab Nawaz, counsel for the three girls, claimed that the victim was a drug addict herself and wanted to engage his clients in the illegal act.
After listening to the arguments, the Lahore judge granted pre-arrest bail to three girls against surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each.
The Lahore court also barred authorities from arresting the petitioners until Jan 30.
A video clip of the alleged torture, doing the rounds on social media, showed a group of four girls punching and kicking another girl. The schoolgirls are shown in the video, forcing their classmate to the ground and sitting on her, one of the girls can be seen grabbing the hair of the victim and abusing her while forcing her to apologize.
Earlier, the Defence Police launched a criminal investigation against four students of an upscale private school over allegations of torturing a fellow classmate.
The case came to light after a disturbing video of the alleged incident went viral on social media. According to the complaint filed by the victim’s father, Imran Younis, his daughter, Paras Shah, was a student at a private school located in the neighbourhood.
In his complaint, Younis claims that one of the four girls involved in the attack was armed with a dagger and that the group dragged Shah by the hair, sat on her back and subjected her to inhumane torture.
The video of torture on a student in a private school in #Lahore has gone viral, according to the father of the girl who became a victim of violence, his daughter was tortured by her classmates who are drug addicted #JusticeForParasShah pic.twitter.com/5RpkmKfS5n
— ح م ز ہ- (@seskii_) January 21, 2023
He further alleged that one of the girls is a boxer who punched his daughter in the face while another kicked her, causing injuries to her face. Another girl reportedly tried to strangle his daughter during the attack.
The motive behind the attack, according to Younis, was that his daughter had refused to inhale drugs offered to her by the prime suspect, who apparently is a known drug addict. Younis claims that his daughter had also recorded a video of her class fellow taking drugs at the school, which he shared with the other girl’s father.
Younis also states in the complaint that the attackers had held a grudge against Shah since the incident and had planned the attack on her. Additionally, he claims that the attackers also snatched a gold chain and a locket from his daughter during the attack.
The victim’s father has also approached the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for action against those who uploaded the video of the attack on social media.
The case has sent shockwaves through the community and has raised serious questions about the state of security and discipline at the school.
