LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday indicted 16 suspects in the case of assault on TikToker Ayesha Akram at the Minar-i-Pakistan last year.

The suspects, including Amir Sohail alias Rambo, Arslan, Abid Ahmad and Iftikhar appeared before the court.

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Additional District and Sessions Judge Ishrat Abbas directed the prosecution to produce its witnesses on the next hearing as all the suspects pleaded not guilty and decided to face the trial.

Lorry Adda police had registered the FIR against 400 unidentified persons for assaulting the TikToker, molesting and stripping her on the eve of Aug 14, 2021. Later, the police also arrested Ayesha’s associate Rambo after she accused him of blackmail.

Sections 354-A (assault or use of criminal force against a woman and stripping her of her clothes), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit the theft), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) had been included in the FIR.

In his media statements, Rambo alleged that it was in fact the TikToker who had been blackmailing him. He also alleged that Ayesha implicated him in the FIR after he rejected her idea of minting money from the arrested persons for their release.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2022