A disturbing video of a couple being harassed and beaten by multiple men inside a room in Pakistan is viral across different social media platforms with the false claim that it shows Pakistan Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat sexually assaulting a woman, for protesting at Lahore University.
BOOM found that the claim is false and is unrelated to Hayat. It shows an individual named Usman Mirza harassing a couple in Pakistan's Islamabad in 2021, along with a group of accomplices. News reports further indicate that the perpetrators have been convicted with life sentences.
BOOM has not included the post due to its disturbing content.
An user on X shared the video with the caption, "An incident has come to light from Pakistan which has shaken the entire world. In Pakistan's Punjab province, Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat in the Maryam Nawaz government stripped a girl and r@ped her in front of the camera. The crime of that girl and her partner was that they had participated in the protest against the r@pe of a girl in Lahore University. Now just imagine that when a Pakistani minister can openly r@pe a Muslim woman in front of the camera, then what will the people of Pakistan do with the Hindus?"
Fact Check
BOOM looked through the responses to the viral X post, and noticed multiple users claiming that the video is old and does not show the Pakistani minister. To verify, BOOM ran a reverse image search on some keyframes of the viral video which led us to multiple videos on YouTube claiming to show an Usman Mirza harassing a couple in Islamabad.
Uploaded on July 10, 2021, the description of a video with similar visuals where the perpetrators can be clearly seen stated, "Islamabad High Court Statement About Osman Mirza Viral Video."
Taking a cue, we ran a keyword search on YouTube about the Usman Mirza case and came across a video report by ARY News that included visuals matching the viral video.
Uploaded on July 9, 2021, ARY News reported about the arrest of the fifth accomplice of the primary suspect Usman Mirza who harassed and abused a couple in Islamabad while recording the entire ordeal.
For further information, we ran a related keyword search on Google and found multiple Pakistan-based media outlets reporting the incident.
On September 26, 2021, Pakistan Today reported SI Asim Gaffar of the Golra police station had lodged a complaint after watching the disturbing video. It stated that Mirza had not only abused the couple, but also blackmailed and extorted money from them.
According to a report published by Dawn on March 25, 2022, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced Usman Mirza, along with four other co-accused to life imprisonment with a Rs. 2 lakh fine each, while two others were acquitted.
