Islamabad:
A man accused of shooting a 17-year-old Tiktok star in her home in the federal capital after she had repeatedly rejected his progress was formally indicted on Saturday.
Sana Yousaf’s killing in June drew nationwide condemnation and repeated the debate on women’s security, after some online comments – along with condolance – accused her of her own death.
The 22-year-old accused, Umar Hayat, did not plead guilty to Islamabad’s district and sessions Court.
“All claims made against me are baseless and false,” the defendants told Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka.
During the hearing, the judge asked if Hayat had killed Sana. “I did not commit any such crime,” replied the defendant.
The judge then asked him if he was false accused in the case.
“Is it all a lie?” The judge noted. He also pointed out that Hayat had also been accused of catching Yousaf’s mobile phone.
At that time, the defendants claimed that all accusations directed at him were “based on untruth.”
The court then postponed the hearing until September 25.
The Islamabad police had arrested Hayat on June 3rd, a day after Yousaf was killed in her house in Islamabad.
Prior to his arrest, a first information report (FIR) of the murder was registered on Islamabad’s Sumbal police station against an unidentified man in the complaint of Sana’s mother, Farzana Yousaf, which invokes section 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
In FIR, Yousaf’s mother said that a man with a gun in his hand had suddenly entered their house around 10 p.m. 17 and “shot straight against my daughter for the purpose of killing”.
Later, Islamabad Inspector General (IG) had Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said during a press conference that police had arrested a suspect who was a 22-year-old man, from Faisalabad.
He said Hayat had tried to contact Yousaf repeatedly and was “rejected by her again and again” and added that the defendant had taken Yousaf’s cellphone in an attempt to wipe out the evidence, but it had been recovered along with the weapons of the offense.
On July 25, police had formally submitted to Challan against Hayat to the prosecution in the district and sessions Courts. It also included Hayat’s confessional statement registered under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In his statement, Hayat – the son of a retired government official and a Tikker himself – said that he had developed a one -sided crush with Sana after connecting with her through social media. He had confessed that suspicion and jealousy made him kill her.
Hayat revealed that he had traveled from Jaranwala to Islamabad on May 28 to wish Sana on her birthday. When she did not meet him, he was convinced that she deliberately avoided him, he said, adding that on June 2, he returned to the capital after renting a Toyota Fortuner and with a 30-bear gun intending to confront her.
