Court extends physical remand of Usman Mirza, accomplices

Judicial magistrate directs police to complete investigation within stipulated time

ISLAMABAD:

A local court in Islamabad has granted a four-day extension in the physical remand of Usman Mirza and two others held in the case of violence against a couple in Islamabad. Judicial magistrate Waqar Gondil directed the police to complete the investigation within the stipulated time.

The court proceeded with the hearing of the case at the district and sessions court on Friday, after the end of the two-day physical remand against the accused. The police presented the three arrested accused Usman Mirza, Farhan and Hafiz Ataur Rehman before the court while their counsel Malik Akhlaq Awan, Mian Zafar Iqbal and Sufyan Akram Cheema were also present besides public prosecutor Javed Ata and investigating officer Shafqat Mehmood.

Advocate Awan maintained the incident was an act worthy of condemnation but urged that the court should not look at the viral social media video but the facts contained in the record.

Read PM mobilises team in sexual assault video case

‘We also condemn the act of the main accused as a human being but it is not justified to treat other people seen in the video the same way’ Awan maintained, questioning where in the video the accused Farhan was undressing anyone or doing any condemning act.

He elaborated that two of the accused, Farhan and Ataur Rehman, were property dealers and the incident was six months old. Farhan was called at the scene from Kashmir Highway.

Meanwhile, Sufyan Cheema, counsel for Ataur Rehman, maintained that even though his client was seen in video, he has nothing to do with the incident. In the video, it can be seen that Ataur Rehman is only trying to cool down the situation, he said, urging the court not to grant further extension in the physical remand.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2021.