Update: Local police on Saturday booked a reporter and a cameraman of a private TV channel for “illegally” recording and broadcasting on social media the interviews of the three in-custody suspects in the Maria murder case, reports Dawn.
In the First Information Report (FIR) complainant Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Hasan stated that the private TV channel’s reporter Rana Khalid Mahmood and cameraman Ali Ahmad violated the law by recording video statements of the suspects in custody, without permission of the concerned authorities.
However, no arrest has so far been made in the case.
Meanwhile, journalists’ organizations have expressed concern over the registration of the case under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) declaring it beyond the Punjab police’s domain to book any media person. They also urged Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to take notice of the alleged violation of law by the Punjab police and warned the government that journalists would be forced to stage protests if the “illegal” FIR against the two media persons was not dismissed.
The TV reporter, Rana Khalid, claims his lawyers had filed his pre-arrest bail plea before the court who refused to hear it with the remarks that the cases under PECA should be heard by a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) court.
However, in the case, BOL News is claiming that the brother who filmed the murder, Shehbaz, and his wife Sumera have been convicted by the court for hiding the murder of 22-year-old Maria under section 201 of the penal code of Pakistan. They have been sent to jail on judicial remand.
Previously, in the Toba Tek Singh’s Maria murder case, the brother, Faisal, who was seen murdering the sister in the video, and the complicit father, Abdul Sattar, lying on a bed beside him have alleged that the brother who filmed it raped her. The two were talking to the media when they said that.
زمین نہیں پھٹی 😢
— Koli Bpositive (@KoliBpositive) April 2, 2024
اس قوم کا اینڈ ہوگیا. اب کیا پیچھے رہ گیا. pic.twitter.com/UF7FtegSBZ
The matter of the brutal murder and it being filmed was discussed by Zarar Khuro, Wusatullah Khan, and Shahzaib Jillani in their show Zara Hat Kay. The reporter Sultan Sidhu explained that a four day remand has been taken again and shocking revelations have been made in the case as the alleged complicit duo of father and son have told the police that Shehbaz the brother who filmed it was raping Maria and not them.
https://youtu.be/6jh5M4ybXd4?si=OEGBT7zHEYu_F4CKPreviously, lawyer Kamran Zafar, Maria’s elder brother Shehbaz’s lawyer announced the withdrawal of his advocacy in the case.
The lawyer announced the withdrawal of his letter of attorney in Toba Tek Singh, citing he cannot advocate for “beasts”
Maria,22, murder case was heard in a local court of Toba Tek Singh. The main accused Faisal and his father were presented before the court. During the hearing, the police requested 14 days remand of the accused in the case, however, the magistrate approved a four-day remand.
Lawyer said Shahbaz and his wife were misleading, and he could not represent such “beasts” before the court, reports ARY News.
Meanwhile, the family of Maria alleged that lawyer after taking Rs 400,000 decided to help the police.
Moreover, the elder sister of deceased Maria Bibi revealed shocking details and demanded justice from the authorities in an interview with ARY News.
The statement of the deceased Maria Bibi’s elder sister, Kosar, has come to light in which she stated that her brother informed her at 1 am that Maria’s condition had deteriorated but when she arrived home she was already dead. “She was subjected to severe torture and brutally murdered as she saw blood flowing from Maria’s nose, said Kosar.
Background
The horrific video of the murder of a 22-year-old girl in Toba Tek Singh has gone viral in which one of her brothers strangled her while being encouraged by their father while the other brother was filming. The father and the brother who killed the girl have been accused of allegedly raping the victim.
The video of the gruesome murder of Maria in 477 JB, a suburb of Toba Tek Singh, has invoked horrified reactions on the internet. The video, filmed inside what looks like a room in a rural home, shows Faisal strangling Maria while her father Abdul Sattar is lying down, seemingly not bothered by his daughter’s death. The other brother’s wife Sumaira can also be seen standing in the room in the video. Meanwhile the brother who was secretly filming the incident, Shehbaz, filmed the clip on the pretext of talking to a friend on the phone.
A two-day physical remand of the victim’s brother Faisal and father Abdul Sattar, arrested on the charge of murder, has been obtained, while the other brother of the victim, Shehbaz, who made the video, and the sister-in-law Sumaira, who is seen in the video, have also been made part of the investigation, as per the police.
The neck bone of the girl is broken, reveals the preliminary investigation.
Relatives of the victim and the neighbours say that the three of them- father and sons- killed the girl and tried to hide the crime by burying her and declaring her death to be natural.
The father and son strangled Maria together between the nights of March 17 and 18, according to the police report. The brother who made the video, Shehbaz, has accused his brother and father of killing the victim after she complained of rape.
In the video, Maria’s brother Shehbaz could be heard suggesting to his father and younger brother Faisal to free the sister.
Reporter Geo News Sajid Majeed explained that Shehbaz instantly informed the police but no action was taken. Consequently, his lawyer shared the video in various groups and made it viral on social media. This prompted the police to arrest the two murderers.
Shahbaz said that when he tried to rescue Maria, his brother and father threatened to kill his daughters too.
“I cannot resist for the sake of my daughters but I recorded the murder from my mobile pretending to be speaking on a phone call,” he added while talking to Samaa News.
Shahbaz asked the police to register the case on his complaint, not on behalf of the state, reports 24 News.
Maria’s sister-in-law has said that when they entered the room, Maria’s hands and feet were tied.
DPO Ibadat Nisar Toba Tek Singh has said that DNA tests of the three fathers and sons are being conducted while the samples have been sent for forensics after the exhumation and post-mortem of the victim.
