LAHORE: A district and sessions court in Lahore on Friday released ninety-eight suspects, accused of harassing and assaulting a woman TikToker Ayesha Akram at the city’s Greater Iqbal Park on Independence Day (August 14).
Police officials today produced the suspects before the court under strict security arrangements. The suspects were brought to the district courts in a prison van with their faces covered.
The investigation officer claimed that the detained suspects were not identified in the identification parade held on September 1. Consequently, the additional session judge instructed the police to release the suspects. “There’s no point in keeping them locked up now,” he added.
Similarly, another court in Lahore on Friday extended the interim bail granted to two suspects in TikToker’s ‘molestation’ case till September 14.
Usman Aziz Sheikh and Shehroze Saeed had filed petitions in the court, seeking pre-arrest bails in the case. Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Saeed, who heard the petitions, also sought from police complete record of the case.
Nazim Shehzad Chaudhry Advocate, who appeared on behalf of both the suspects, told the court that his clients wanted to cooperate with police in the investigation.
On Wednesday, the victim identified six out of 104 men arrested in the case during an identification parade. Since August 21, 104 suspects have been sent to jail for identification. The men were identified through geofencing and facial recognition software.
