Staff Reporter
A local court sent 14 more persons, accused of harassing and assaulting a woman at Minar-i-Pakistan on August 14, to jail for the identification parade.
On Tuesday, the police produced the arrested suspects in the court. According to the police, the men were identified through geo-fencing and face matching.
So far, 104 men have been sent to jail. The prosecution team has instructed the police to submit statement of the victim and her friend Rambo in the court, along with a list of men arrested so far.
A special four-member prosecution team will review the documents. The police have also been told to keep the court updated on the identification process. Earlier, the prosecution sent the video of the incident for a forensic examination.
Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court took notice of the Minar-i-Pakistan case where Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani submitted a detailed report to the Human Rights Cell of the apex court.
According to the report, four special teams have been formed to undertake a comprehensive investigation. They have visited the spot and the victim’s medico-legal examination has been conducted.
All videos and 60 photographs have been collected and sent to NADRA. They identified nine men who have been arrested and with their help, a further slew of suspects have been arrested. This brings the total to 92 men, the report said.
Geo-fencing data has been collected with the help of intelligence agencies. More than 700 people have been declared suspects, the report added.
The victim said that she was at Minar-i-Pakistan with her friends to make a video for her YouTube channel when suddenly more than 300 to 400 men attacked them. The victim said when she and her friends tried to get away from the crowd, the guards at the park opened the gate of the fence and they went inside.
The men jumped over the fence and surged towards us and started pulling me, the woman said. She said that they clawed and tore her clothes. She said that some men tried to help her but the crowd was so overwhelmingly large that they couldn’t do anything.
She said that the mob of men also assaulted her partner Amir Sohail’s friend and snatched his cellphone and Rs15,000. They even forcefully took off my gold ring and gold earrings, she said.
One suspect gets bail from court
One of the 400 suspects of Minar-i-Pakistan episode was granted pre-arrest bail by an additional district and sessions court here. Shehroze Syed had filed a petition which was heard by Additional Session Judge Muhammad Saeed. According to Syed’s petition, he wants to be a part of the police investigation but fears arrests.
And so, the court barred the police from arresting Syed till September 2. “The petitioner is a respectable citizen of the locality and has no previous record of such offence,” it ruled, adding that there is no incriminating material available on record to connect the petitioner with the commission of the alleged offence.
The police have been instructed to present the case challan at the next hearing.
