After a court issued arrest warrants against them for failing to appear, the couple who were allegedly abused and tortured by accused Usman Mirza and others in a video have appeared before the district and sessions judge. Mirza and his accomplices had been arrested and indicted for their alleged role in stripping the couple naked and torturing them in a video that circulated on the internet in July the previous year.
Both victims in the harassment and extortion case against Usman Mirza had earlier recanted their statements in court, through a written affidavit which alleged that police had ‘fabricated’ the entire case against Mirza and his accomplices. In the affidavit filed by the female victim, the court was requested to stop proceedings against Mirza. The female victim had refused to recognise Mirza, stating that the defendants were not the same men seen in the video of her ordeal. The affidavit specifically states that none of the accused ever sexually assaulted, forcibly stripped or videotaped the couple.
When proceedings resumed this week, the judge asked that the video be played in court. The hearing was converted to an in-camera session and journalists and others were asked to leave the courtroom. Asad, one of the two victims from the video, was asked during cross-examination as to what occurred on that day when the video was made. He refused to share details of the incident. The female victim was also cross-examined in-camera.
