In an interesting turn of events, one of the victims in the famous “couple harassment case” has submitted an affidavit in a trial court, stating that she did not recognize the accused in the case including the prime accused Usman Mirza.
“I state on oath that the accused, who have been nominated in the case and who are arrested and produced before the court of law, were neither those persons who were seen in the video and who were present on the place of occurrence, nor any one of them put strain on me nor filmed any video forcibly and not even took off my dress under duress,” said the affidavit submitted by Sundas Tahir.
Sundas claimed that the police had nominated the persons as accused on their own.
“I don’t know any of the accused in this case; nor do I want to pursue the case further. No one tried to assault me sexually; neither do I know Rehan, nor did he record a video of me.”
She said she had neither identified any accused nor signed any papers and that the police took her signature and thumb impressions on blank papers multiple times. She also denied giving ransom to any of the accused.
On July 7, 2021, the Islamabad police arrested Usman Mirza a few hours after a horrific video went viral in which Mirza could be seen violently thrashing and harassing a young couple along with his friends.
Later on, the police also apprehended seven other accused including Hafiz Attaur Rehman, Farhan Shaheen, Adaras Qayyum Butt, Rehan Hassan Mughal, Umar Bilal and Mohib Bangash.
The accused had been booked and charge-sheeted for stripping the couple naked, torturing them in Sector E-11 of Islamabad and later uploading their video on social media.
However, when Additional District and Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani took up the case for hearing this week, Sundas and her husband Asad Raza refused to identify the accused including Usman Mirza, who were presented in the courtroom.
They said it was the police that concocted the entire case. They also submitted the affidavit to the court.
During the cross-examination in the court, the girl also said that “police have fabricated the whole matter” and she did not sign any stamp paper. “I did not identify any of the accused nor did I sign any papers.” She said that at different times, the policemen took signatures or thumbprints from her.
In her pervious statement before a magistrate, the victim had alleged that Usman Mirza and others had threatened to gang-rape her if she did not have sex with her friend in their presence.
She had also alleged that she was forced to perform a nude dance before them.
Earlier the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had rejected the bail pleas of three accused and had directed the trial court to complete the trial within two months.
Investigations had revealed that Mirza, co-owner of a car business in Islamabad, had not only tortured and filmed the couple but also blackmailed them and had received millions of rupees from them.
The decision by the victims to retract their allegations irked social media users.
Soon after the news broke, many took to social media and expressed disappointment over the retraction of statements. Some Twitter users were of the view that blackmailing victims is a common occurrence and the state should become a party in the case now, in order for the couple to get justice.
An official said Usman Mirza had challenged the justice system and tried to force the victim couple into taking their application back. Sources told Bol News that the victim had taken a heavy amount from Usman Mirza to change her statement before the court.
Reacting to the development, the federal government announced it would pursue the case now.
Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Maleeka Bukhari on January 12 took to Twitter to state that the government would now pursue the prosecution in the Usman Mirza case “irrespective of recent developments” relating to the victim’s testimony.
“Irrefutable video and forensic evidence [are] on record – anyone harassing and stripping a woman must face the full force of the law,” said the lawmaker. She said a high-level meeting, chaired by Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem, was held on the special directive of Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the matter.
“PM Imran Khan has directed the state to pursue cases of abuse and harassment of women,” she added. “The state stands with all the affected women and children.” She said the perpetrators of woman and child abuse would not escape the law.
“We have solid evidence in this case. It is the responsibility of the government and the police to bring this case to a logical conclusion.
“We will do our best to bring full justice to the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice. At the next hearing, all the evidence will be presented in court. The victims will be provided full security,” she said.
