ISLAMABAD: In an unexpected turn of events, the complainant has refused to identify the prime accused in the much-hyped sexual harassment and blackmailing case, involving a girl and a boy in the federal capital.
Islamabad’s District and Sessions Court conducted the hearing on the case on Tuesday, during which the victim girl retracted her allegations and refused to identify the accused including prime suspect Usman Mirza.
Police had arrested Mirza in Islamabad after a harrowing video of him torturing and stripping a couple went viral online in July last year.
According to the police charge-sheet submitted to the court, Mirza is the prime offender in the case who recorded inappropriate videos of the couple, stripped them naked, assaulted them, and kept them hostage for hours.
The victim in a statement before the court today said the police ‘concocted the scandal’ and expressed ignorance about the accused indicted by the court in December.
She claimed that she did not sign any documents related to the case and police official took her signatures and thumbprints on blank papers.
“I don’t want to pursue this case,” the victim said at the court. However, the judge adjourned the hearing of the case till January 18 and directed the victim to appear before the court again.
In an affidavit submitted to the court, the girl said the accused presented before the court were not “real culprits”.
The victim added that she did not want any action against them neither did she identified them as accused before magistrate or police.
Meanwhile, the couple also changed their counsel in the case suddenly without informing their former lawyer Hassan Javed Shorash.
In a video statement, lawyer Hassan said he had no idea what the victims said in the court during today’s hearing.
The incident had ignited widespread outrage online over the country’s longstanding problems with sexual violence, prompting a swift response from Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman who immediately directed SSP Operations Dr Syed Mustafa Tanveer to ensure the arrest of the suspects at the earliest.
The Facebook video helped the police team to identify the suspects and gather information about Mirza’s real estate office situated right in front of the flat where the incident allegedly took place.
In addition, the investigation also discovered Mirza’s ‘guest house’ where sexual assault was routinely filmed and then used as a blackmailing tool against victims.
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