Daily Times

A judicial magistrate of Islamabad on Friday granted a further four days physical remand of three accused, who were allegedly involved in torturing and blackmailing a couple after making their immoral video.

The three accused including Usman Mirza, Atta Ur Rehman and Farhan were produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Waqar Gondal by the Golra Police Station.

At the outset of hearing, the police requested the court to grant further physical remand of the accused as it was required to recover the gadgets used in the crime.

The counsels for the accused, however, opposed the physical remand plea and adopted the stance that the police had also demanded seven days remand on last hearing. They said the court had to view the police record instead of social media contents.

The counsel said, mobile and weapon had been recovered from the main accused. If there was no further progress then the accused should be sent to jail on judicial remand.

The defence lawyer said, this time videos were the only record. It could be observed that the accomplices Atta ur Rehman and Farhan had been stopping the main accused from the crime.

The incident was very shameful but the two accomplices had no role in it, the lawyer said.

The prosecutor adopted the stance that this case came under section 354A, adding that the statements of victims, boy and girl were yet to be recorded. He prayed the court to grant maximum remand of the accused persons, so that other mobiles and all videos could be recovered for investigation.

On the query of the judge, the investigation officer said he had applied to obtain the locations of the accused at the time of incident.

The defence lawyers said, police should recover the material from the main accused but the two co-accused should be sent to jail on judicial remand.

The prosecutor said, only a 2-day remand would be insufficient in such a big crime case.

The court also instructed the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) anti cyber crime cell to identify the person who uploaded videos on social media.

After listening to arguments, the court granted four days physical remand of the accused persons. Meanwhile, as the accused were brought to the court, they had been threatening the media persons for making their footage. On the complaint to the magistrate, the court ordered police to ensure security around the courtroom.