Minar-e-Pakistan incident: Identification parade to be held on August 28

A Lahore court has decided to conduct the identification parade of 104 men accused of harassing, assaulting, and groping a woman at Minar-e-Pakistan on Independence Day, on August 28.

In a hearing on Wednesday, the court instructed the superintendent of the jail to oversee all the arrangements.

The victim will be taken to Camp Jail at 10am. She will be accompanied by Magistrate Rizwan Ahmed, who has been appointed in-charge of the identification parade.

The police have been instructed to ensure foolproof security on August 28.

Since August 21, 104 suspects have been sent to jail for identification. the men were identified through geofencing and face matching.

On Tuesday, the prosecution team has instructed the police to submit the statement of the victim and her friend in court, along with a list of men arrested so far. The police have also been told to keep the court updated on the identification process.

Supreme Court takes note of Minar-e-Pakistan mass harassment case

On Monday, the Supreme Court took notice of the Minar-e-Pakistan case. Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani submitted a detailed report to the Human Rights Cell.

According to the report, four special teams have been formed to undertake a comprehensive investigation. They have visited the spot and the victim’s medico-legal examination has been conducted.

All videos and 60 photographs have been collected and sent to NADRA. They identified nine men who have been arrested and with their help, a further slew of suspects have been arrested. This brings the total to 92 men, the report said.

Geo-fencing data has been collected with the help of intelligence agencies. More than 700 people have been declared suspects, the report added.

One suspect gets bail from Lahore court

One of the 400 suspects was, however, granted pre-arrest bail by a district and sessions court in Lahore. Shehroze Syed had filed a petition which was heard by Additional Session Judge Muhammad Saeed on Saturday. According to Syed’s petition, he wants to be a part of the police investigation but fears arrests.

And so, the court barred the police from arresting Syed till September 2. “The petitioner is a respectable citizen of the locality and has no previous record of such offence,” it ruled, adding that there is no incriminating material available on record to connect the petitioner with the commission of the alleged offence.

The police have been instructed to present the case challan at the next hearing.

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.

Minar-e-Pakistan harassment case updates:

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.