Lahore: City police have arrested 36 more suspects in the Minar-e-Pakistan case Attack on a TikToker While another video clip of sexual abuse with the victim went viral on Saturday.
The video clip shows the helpless and frightened woman facing a horrific ordeal and some youths tearing her clothes.
In a related development, the Inspector General of Police has also appointed new Lahore Operations SSP and SP City Division, besides posting of two other police officers who were suspended from service. [alleged] negligence in the matter
According to the notification issued here on Saturday, Lahore Administration SSP Shoaib Anwar has been transferred to SSP Operation while Additional SP Jaranwala Division Rizwan Tariq has been transferred to Lahore City Division as SP.
The IGP on Saturday confirmed 36 more arrests, taking the arrest of 66 suspects who have been detained in the Tiktokar case so far.
Most of the arrests came from around Minar-e-Pakistan, from where a large number of people had participated in the Independence Day.
40 others sent to jail for identification parade
He was taken into custody on the basis of a report issued by Nadra.
The IG said in his statement that the police teams constituted for this have raided 27 places/areas of the city.
CCPO Ghulam Mahmood Dogar said the police did geo-fencing of 28,000 people and shortlisted 350 suspects for questioning in the case.
A Punjab government spokesperson said that around 100 suspects have been detained in this particular case.
Footage from the new mobile phone showed some youths tearing off the girl’s clothes and trying to save others from criminals.
The footage shows the attackers laughing at Ayesha Akram and using abusive language.
In the second video clip, the young criminals surrounded the woman, tore her clothes and grabbed her.
While some people tried to save her, the mob of criminals was so large that she struggled helplessly to escape the attacks of several youths, the footage showed. Nearly 30 arrests were made on Friday in a massive crackdown as politicians, human rights organizations and civil society members strongly condemned the incident and pressured law-enforcement agencies to act.
There were also some reports that the police have also questioned Ayesha Akram’s partner ‘Rambo’ after the incident of assault on her at Greater Iqbal Park was reported.
Police also deployed at her Shahdara residence to protect the girl after her family members alleged that they were feeling insecure after registering a case against over 400 suspects.
sent to jail
A judicial magistrate on Saturday sent 40 suspects to jail for their identification parade in the Minar-e-Pakistan attack case.
Lorry Adda police brought the suspects to the district courts in a jail van with covered faces.
The investigating officer sought permission from the court to conduct the identification parade of the suspects to identify the culprits involved in the incident.
He told the magistrate that the complainant woman would try to identify the suspects in the jail.
The magistrate allowed the police to shift the suspects to a judicial lockup for 14 days and directed the jail authorities to make special arrangements for the identification parade.
Some of the suspects alleged before the court that TikToker Ayesha Baig had herself invited them to Minar-e-Pakistan to make the video. He requested the court to order the police to arrest Tiktokkar and his team members also for disclosing the facts of the incident.
The parents of some of the suspects also gathered outside the court, claiming that their sons had been wrongly arrested by the police.
Meanwhile, a sessions court granted interim arrest pre-arrest bail to Shahroj Saeed, a suspect in the TikTok attack case, a resident of Lahore General Hospital area.
The suspect appeared in the court along with his lawyer and complained about the police raid at his residence. The counsel submitted that the petitioner had gone to Greater Iqbal Park to celebrate the Independence Day and had nothing to do with the incident of attack.
He said that the petitioner was ready to join the investigation to prove his innocence, but the police wanted to arrest him with malafide intention.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (AD&SJ) Muhammad Sayeed granted anticipatory bail to the suspect subject to production of a bail bond of Rs 50,000.
The police had registered an FIR against 400 unidentified persons for assaulting, molesting and stripping the complainant.
Sections 354-A (assault or criminal force against woman and her disfigurement), 382 (theft after preparation to cause death, hurt or restraint), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) The Pakistan Penal Code has been included in the FIR.
Published in Dawn, August 22, 2021
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