Sex assault accused sent on judicial remand
Islamabad district and sessions court judge Mian Azhar on Tuesday sent Usman Mirza and three other suspects — arrested for torturing, harassing and stripping a couple — to jail on judicial remand.
The four suspects, Mirza, Ataur Rehman, Farhan Shaheen Awan and Qayyum Butt, have been arrested for torturing, sexually assaulting and blackmailing the couple in Islamabad.
The suspects were produced before the court on completion of their three-day physical remand under tight security in an armoured vehicle. The Islamabad police have completed the interrogation from the suspects, seeking their judicial remand. Approving the police's request, the court sent all four to jail on judicial remand till July 30.
Read More: Sexual assault video: Court extends physical remand of Usman Mirza
The police told the court that Mirza's accomplice Butt had also been booked in another case registered at the Sector I-9 police station. The public prosecutor informed that Butt had tortured a gym owner and his wife.
He added that other accomplices of Butt will soon be arrested and pleaded with the court that the prime suspect should be sent to jail in this case too.
On the other hand, the court had already handed over the co-accused Mohib Bangash and Bilal Marwat to the police on July 17 on a six-day physical remand. The suspects were arrested on July 6 after the torturing and harassing video of the couple went viral on social media.
The incident had ignited widespread outrage online over the country’s longstanding problems with sexual violence, prompting a swift response from Islamabad police that arrested the suspects after the video went viral.
The 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.
The case has been registered against the suspects under Section 354-A (assaulting and stripping a woman of her clothes), Section 506 (criminal intimidation), Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and Section 509 (sexual harassment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2021.