LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to a TikToker in a case of alleged rape of a woman.

Ghalib Market police had registered the first information report (FIR) on the complaint of a woman, a resident of Baghbanpura.

She told the police that she had been in contact with the TikToker for the last one year and the suspect called her on her mobile phone and expressed his desire to meet her.

She said when she reached Gulberg by an auto rickshaw, the suspect took her to a room of a hotel where he allegedly raped her.

The suspect with his lawyer appeared before the court for the grant of bail and denied the charge, alleging the police registered a fabricated case against him.

The court granted interim pre-arrest bail to the TikToker till March 5 and directed him to join the police investigation.

VERDICT RESERVED: A sessions court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the post-arrest bail petition of a PML-N activist arrested allegedly for “running a malicious campaign against Prime Minister Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and the army on social media”.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasin Shaheen will announce the verdict on Feb 25.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cyber crime wing had booked Sabir Hashmi, the activist, under sections 20, 21 (d) and 24 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca).

Hashmi said he had been falsely implicated in the case at the behest of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

The bail petition said the case against was false, frivolous and baseless and had been registered with mala fide intention for ulterior motives. It said the petitioner had no nexus with the alleged crime.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022