Businessman, guard held for assaulting motorcyclist in DHA remanded in police custody

A judicial magistrate on Tuesday remanded two suspects, including a businessman, in police custody in a case pertaining to an assault on a motorcyclist in Defence Housing Authority.

Salman Farooqi, said to be the executive officer of a private company, and his guard Owais Hashmi were arrested after a video went viral on social media showing Farooqi assaulting a motorcyclist, who was accompanied by his sister.

The incident, which occurred after a minor road accident on Khayaban-e-Ittehad, sparked widespread outrage on social media with calls for strict legal action against the man. On Tuesday, the police escorted the held suspects to the city courts with their faces covered with a piece of cloth. The investigating officer produced them before Judicial Magistrate (South) Muzzamil Ali Soomro and requested their physical remand in police custody for investigation.

Suspect Salman Farooqi through his lawyer Naeem Qureshi filed an application seeking post-arrest bail in the case. Qureshi argued that the sections invoked against the suspect were bailable and requested the magistrate to free him on bail.

However, the magistrate handed over both the suspects to the police with a direction to the IO to produce them on completion of their remand. The court returned the bail application to the counsel to file it before the relevant forum since the charges involved were triable by a sessions court.

As the suspects were being escorted out of the courtroom, they faced an angry reception from a group of lawyers. Chants of “Maaro maaro” (beat them) echoed through the premises. A video showed a lawyer slapping Salman Farooqi as the cops whisked the suspects away to avoid any untoward incident.

An FIR has been lodged at the Gizri police station on the complaint of an eyewitness, Mohammad Saleem, under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 342 (wrongful confinement), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506-B (threat to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.