LHC suspends order to lodge case against Babar Azam

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday suspended the operation of an order issued by a sessions court to police to lodge a case against Pakistan cricket team skipper Babar Azam on the complaint of a woman alleging sexual assault.

Justice Asjad Javed Ghural issued the stay order on a petition filed by the cricketer and sought replies from the police and the complainant woman by February 8. An additional district and sessions judge on Thursday ordered the police to record the statement of Hamiza Mukhtar under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against Azam and proceed action in accordance with the law.

The judge observed that serious allegations of miscarriage/abortion and deceitful intercourse on false assurance of marriage, etc were leveled against the accused. He observed that from a bare reading of the application of the petitioner, prima facie commission of a cognizable offence was made out. The judge directed the Naseerabad station house officer to record the statement of the woman and proceed strictly in accordance with the law.

The woman, identified as Hamiza Mukhtar, had filed a petition against Azam in the sessions court in December 2020, in which she claimed to be the batsman’s neighbour and old schoolmate. She said the cricketer had tricked her into love and tortured her when she demanded that he marry her. She alleged that she financially supported Azam when he was a struggling cricketer, adding that she spent millions of rupees on him.

A counsel for the petitioner had argued before the court that Azam allegedly raped his client under the false pretext of marriage.

“The petitioner and Azam were in love and had illicit relations, and she got pregnant out of the relationship in 2015”, the woman’s counsel said, adding that the accused, in connivance with his friends, managed an abortion.

The counsel of Azam argued before the LHC that the allegations of the complainant were based on mala fide intention and aim at blackmailing the petitioner. He pointed out that the sessions court issued the directives without taking the facts into account. He said the woman settled the case with Azam in 2018 and the complainant had withdrawn the same charges against the petitioner. The counsel urged the LHC to declare the order of the sessions court illegal.