U-turn in Islamabad couple harassment case

ISLAMABAD: The victim couple, who was harassed at E-11 flat of Islamabad, has taken a U-turn in the Usman Mirza case as it has refused to recognise the accused persons.

Victim Sundas Tahir, wife of Asad Raza, declared in her written statement on an attested affidavit with her signature and thumb impression, that: “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.”

“I did not record any statement against any accused nominated and arrested in the case before the police investigators or magistrate and neither nominated nor identified any of them. I do not want to proceed any case against any accused, nominated or arrested in the case,” the victim girl further stated.

Usman Mirza, the prime accused in the couple harassment case, was arrested on July 7, 2021 after the disturbing video went viral on the social media, in which he could be seen assaulting the couple. He was also seen stripping the woman in the video.

News Desk adds: According to Geo News, previously, the statement of the female victim of the case was recorded in front of the magistrate in which she had said Usman Mirza and the other accused had "threatened to gang-rape her if she did not have sex with her friend while they filmed it."

The victim said she was "forced to perform a nude dance in front of Usman and his accomplices," adding that she was beaten up when she refused.

Islamabad District and Sessions Court on Tuesday heard a case in relation to the alleged harassment, in which the primary accused Usman Mirza, along with seven others, were presented before the court.

During the hearing of the case, the female victim submitted a stamp paper to the court and said that “the police itself has created this case, neither I have recognised any accused nor have signed any papers.”

I have not given an affidavit under anyone’s pressure, she said. She further claimed that the police took her signature and thumb impressions on blank papers multiple times.

"I don’t know any of the accused in this case, nor do I want to pursue the case further," she said. Pointing out to one of the accused in the case, she said that, “I have only seen Rehan and others accused in police stations, I don’t even know them.”

"No one has tried to assault me sexually, neither I know Rehan and nor he was making my video," she claimed. She also denied giving ransom money to anyone.

It is worth mentioning here that last year in July, a video surfaced on social media in which the main accused in the case, Usman Mirza, could be seen violently thrashing and harassing the young couple in a room full of other men.

Within a few hours of the video going viral, the Islamabad police took Mirza into custody and registered a first information report (FIR) in the case. Later on, seven people, including Usman Mirza, were indicted in the Islamabad couple harassment case.

Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani had indicted all the accused, including Hafiz Ataur Rehman, Farhan Shaheen, Adaras Qayyum Butt, Rehan Hassan Mughal, Umar Bilal and Mohib Bangash. Furthermore, Islamabad High Court had rejected the bail appeals of the three accused and directed the authorities to complete Usman Mirza's trial case in two months.