IO says no eyewitness to testify about stripping of girl

Says FIA yet to reply about Twitter handle of viral video in couple harassment case

ISLAMABAD:

The investigating officer (IO) in a case involving physical and sexual assault of a couple in Islamabad during his crossexamination on Tuesday said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has not yet replied from which Twitter account the video of the affected boy and girl went viral on social media.

When Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani took up the case for hearing, lawyers of the accused first cross-examined the investigating officer Tariq Zaman, and later, Javed Iqbal, the lawyer of the main accused Usman Mirza, cross-examined the second investigating officer Shafqat Mahmood. During the cross-examination, the IO said that he wrote two letters to the FIA but he did not receive a response to date from which Twitter account the first video of the affected boy and girl went viral on social media.

The case is still pending with the FIA, he said adding that it was true that the two letters written to the FIA were not disclosed to the court. He said that before and after the incident, the victim boy and girl had no contact with accused Usman Mirza and coaccused Mohib. During the hearing, SubInspector Tariq Zaman told the court that the serial numbers of the extortion money recovered from the accused did not match the court record.

He was responding to the questions raised by the counsel for accused Umar Bilal Marwat during the cross-examination. The sub-inspector also said that no witness was found in connection with the striping of the victim girl but the forensic report of the irrefutable digital evidence proved the presence of the accused and the striping of the victim. Usman Mirza's lawyer Malik Javed Iqbal Venus, the lawyer of accused Hafiz Ataur-Rehman, and the counsel for co-accused Idrees Qayyum Butt, cross-examined the IO of the case, Inspector Shafqat Mahmood, and Sub-Inspector Zaman respectively.

The court then adjourned the hearing of the case till February 8. During the hearing, the main accused Usman Mirza and other accused were produced before the court. Counsel for the main accused Usman Mirza cross-examined the second investigating officer. In response, the investigating officer said that he was transferred to the investigation on July 7. The prosecution has only one USB on record, he said adding that section 342 was inserted because the victim girl and boy were kept in habeas corpus. He said that the insertion of section 341 by former investigator Tariq Zaman was incorrect.

The IO said that he met the affected boy four times and the girl three times. The IO said that ownership of mobile numbers from mobile companies was not verified. He did not collect any evidence of ownership of the apartment where the incident happened. I did not record the statement of any private witness surrounding the apartment as eight months had passed before the incident came to the surface.

On cross-examination by the lawyer of the main accused, IO Tariq Zaman told the court that when Usman Mirza was arrested, there was no money in his pocket. Parliamentary Secretary Malika Bukhari was also present in the courtroom during the hearing of the case. Talking to the media after the hearing, she said that the matter was still in the court. She said that the state will protect the rights of every oppressed.