Couple harassment case: Usman Mirza, four others awarded life imprisonment

ISLAMABAD: Five accused in the Islamabad couple harassment case were sentenced to life imprisonment by an additional sessions court on Friday.

Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani sentenced main accused Usman Mirza and four others to life imprisonment and acquitted two accomplices. All the accused, including Mirza, were presented in court during the hearing.

The sessions judge questioned one of the accused, Farhan Shaheen, whether he was present when the incident took place. To this, Shaheen replied in the negative and said, "I am innocent as I was not present at the place of incident." After the hearing, the judge awarded life imprisonment to Usman Mirza, Hafiz Atta ur Rehman, Adaras Qayyum Butt, Farhan Shaheen, and Mohib Bangash.Meanwhile, Umar Bilal and Rehan Hassan Mughal were acquitted.

Last year, in July, a video surfaced on social media in which the main accused in the case, Mirza, could be seen violently thrashing and harassing a young couple in a room full of other men. Within a few hours of the video going viral, the Islamabad police took Mirza into custody and registered an first information report (FIR) in the case. Later, seven people, including Usman Mirza, were indicted in the Islamabad couple harassment case.