Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani on Friday handed down life imprisonment to main accused Usman Mirza and four co-accused in the couple sexual assault case.
The trial court announced the verdict against Usman Mirza and four others Mohib Bangash, Adaras Qayyum Butt, Hafiz Ataur Rehman and Farhan Shaheen.
Usman Mirza facing the charge of sexually assaulting and forcing a couple to strip in Islamabad and uploading the recorded video of the incident on social media.
The state pursued the case despite the fact that the couple had retracted their statement against the convicts. The couple had stated that the police fabricated the case and no such incident had happened.
The defence counsel had questioned the admissibility of the video evidence as the sub-inspector on the case told the court that police had been unable to locate any eyewitnesses to the crime.
The convicts were initially booked under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 354A (assault or use of criminal force against woman and stripping her of her clothes), 506 (ii) (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to media reports, the shocking clip of several men, including Usman Mirza, holding the couple hostage at gunpoint and assaulting them while forcing them to strip went viral on social media in July last year.
The convicts pleaded not guilty and the counsel hinted to challenge the trial court’s verdict in the high court.
