Ninety-eight men released in Minar-e-Pakistan assault case

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

A Lahore sessions court has released 98 men, accused of harassing and assaulting a woman at Minar-e-Pakistan on August 14, from Lahore’s Camp Jail.

The suspects were presented before the court on Friday. “The men were not identified in the identification parade held on September 1,” the investigation officer said.

Consequently, the additional session judge instructed the police to discharge the men from the case. “There’s no point in keeping them locked up now,” he said.

On Wednesday, the victim identified six out of 104 men arrested in the case during an identification parade.

Since August 21, 104 suspects have been sent to jail for identification. The men were identified through geofencing and facial recognition software. The police have been instructed to keep the court and prosecution team updated on the identification progress.

Lahore court rejects man’s petition to charge TikToker with crime
On Wednesday, a man, identified as Asmatullah, filed a petition for criminal proceedings to be taken against the woman in the Lahore High Court.

Justice Shahid Hussain reserved the court’s decision on the admissibility of the petition.

Asmatullah claimed that the TikToker had invited her followers to Minar-e-Pakistan on August 14. “According to the guards of the Greater Iqbal Park, the woman had two chances to escape the crowd but she didn’t avail them,” the petition claimed.

The TikToker should have had informed the guards to provide her security prior to inviting her fans, he argued. “The incident has brought shame to Pakistan across the globe,” it added.

The petition called for “criminal action” against the woman for “inciting the mob” and demanded regulation of content on social media applications such as TikTok. “Create SOPs for TikTokers to meet fans in public places,” he pleaded.

In response, however, Justice Hussain ruled that the high court can’t file a case against a citizen. “It is the job of a sessions court to decide if the case should be filed or not.”

The court rejected the petition.

Minar-e-Pakistan incident
The victim said that she was at the Minar-e-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 Minar 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.

Videos of the incident surfaced later as many people present had cell phones and started recording the commotion. They show the woman walking with a crowd behind her before the men surround her. People can be seen raising their mobile phones to take videos and pictures of her and start pushing her around. As the scores of men surround her, the woman starts screaming frantically. As the video goes on, a man is heard saying “Azaan ho rahi hai.” The call to prayer had started to fill the air.

Another video shows men throwing the woman in the air.

The FIR was registered after the horrific footage of the woman being pushed, groped, and thrown in the air went viral on social media.