A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show Rana Sikandar Hayat, the Education Minister of Punjab province in Pakistan in the Maryam Nawaz cabinet, barging into a couple’s home in Punjab and forcing the woman to strip and raping her on camera. This incident is said to have occurred because the couple was involved in a protest related to a rape case at Lahore University. Let’s verify the claim in this article.
Claim: A video shows Rana Sikandar Hayat, the Education Minister of Punjab province in Pakistan, sexually assaulting a couple on camera.
Fact: The man seen in the viral video sexually assaulting a couple is not Rana Sikandar Hayat, the Education Minister of Punjab province in Pakistan. The individual identified as Usman Mirza, allegedly assaulted a couple at gunpoint on 06 July 2021 in Islamabad. On 25 March 2022, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced five men, including Usman Mirza, to life imprisonment for the sexual assault and fined them Rs. 2,00,000 each based on digital evidence. The incident is unrelated to Sikandar Hayat. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to a news report by ARY News on their YouTube channel, published on 30 September 2021. The report features similar visuals and is titled “Usman Mirza and 7 others indicted for torturing a couple in Islamabad.”
Taking a clue from the description, a Google keyword search led us to multiple reports (here and here) from July 2021. According to reports, the incident took place on 06 July 2021 at an apartment building in Sector E-11/2, within the Golra police station limits in Islamabad. During the incident, five to six men were seen holding the victims at gunpoint. The accused also stripped the man and woman while threatening them. A case was registered following a complaint.
Further investigation led us to reports (here and here) from March 2022. According to reports, on 25 March 2022, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced five men, including the main accused Usman Mirza, to life imprisonment for the E-11 couple sexual assault case. They were fined Rs. 2,00,000 each based on digital evidence. However, two other accused, Umar Bilal Marwat and Rehan Hussain, were acquitted.
To sum up, a July 2021 video of Usman Mirza assaulting a couple in Islamabad is falsely claimed to be of Rana Sikandar Hayat, Minister of Punjab province, Pakistan.
