Men who stripped, beat couple for sharing room bag life imprisonment

A Pakistani court handed life sentences to five men on for stripping and beating a young couple they pulled out of a private room for being unchaperoned.

A ruling that was hailed by rights activists on Friday.

“Usman Mirza (the primary suspect) and four others have been sentenced to life in prison,’’ Muhammad Hamza Shafqat, the chief administrative of Islamabad told dpa.

Hundreds of people took to Twitter and hailed the decision.

The hashtag #UsmanMirza was trending in Pakistan.

Mirza and his accomplices barged into a guest house room being used by a young man and woman and abused them for being together without supervision, which is strongly frowned upon in conservative Pakistan.

The men held the couple at gunpoint, forced them to strip and filmed the incident while beating them up.

A harrowing video of the incident went viral in July and ignited a debate on moral policing in the country.

The case had many twists and turns during the proceedings as the couple, who were thought to be under duress, told the court that they did not want to pursue the case.

The couple rescinded their statement but Prime Minister Imran Khan directed authorities to pursue the case on behalf of the state.

“Anyone harassing and stripping a woman must face the full force of the law in the presence of irrefutable video and forensic evidence,” Maleeka Bokhari, parliamentary secretary on law and justice said.

Young couples visiting parks and shopping centres in major cities of the country were often harassed, blackmailed or extorted by police. (dpa/NAN)