In the case of an attack on a woman wearing a dress with the Arabic word 'Hilwa' in Lahore's Ichhra market a few days back, police on Tuesday arrested two new accused, reported 24News HD TV channel.
According to the report, the arrested accused have been identified as Malik Khurram Shahzad and Chand Butt.
Ichhra police presented both the accused persons in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Judge Arshad Javed with their faces covered.
The court sent both the accused to jail on a three-day judicial remand for an identification parade on the appeal of the investigating officer of the case.

Two accused cleared, three bailed in case

Yesterday, the same court disposed of the bail applications of two accused and accepted the bail of three other accused.
Judge Arshad Javed heard the case and accused Maulana Aleemuddin Shakir and Khalid Sheshanshah appeared before the court after the interim bail expired.
The lawyer told the court that the accused Maulana Aleemuddin Shakir and Khalid Sheshanshah had stopped the mob from violence. The lawyer also withdrew their bail applications while the police investigating officer told the court that the arrest of both accused was not required. On this, the court disposed of their bail applications.
The court accepted the bail applications of the three arrested accused Muhammad Nadeem, Adil Sarwar, and Al-Tamish Saqlain. The court ordered them to submit a surety bond of Rs one lac each for their release.
The accused filed a bail application from the jail through their lawyers while the investigating officer of the police told the court that the accused Muhammad Nadeem, Adil Sarwar and Al-Tamish Saqlain tried to kill the woman who came to the market wearing Arabic clothes.
The police officer told the court that accused Muhammad Nadeem, Adil Sarwar and Iltamish Saqlain gathered a crowd and harassed the woman. He said the police saved the woman's life by taking timely action.
A case number 832/24 has been registered against the accused in the Ichhra police station, Lahore.

Background of the case

On February 26, swift action by the Lahore police in the crowded Ichra Bazaar saved a teenage girl wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy printed on it from an attack by a charged mob, which alleged that she had committed blasphemy.
The situation turned ugly after someone alleged that the girl’s dress was bearing Quranic verses.
However, some shopkeepers defended the girl and sheltered her in a shop, telling the mob it was just an Arabic calligraphy, and not Quranic verses.
As per eyewitnesses, most of the people in the mob were either customers, visitors or passersby.
A video clip, doing rounds on social media, shows the girl hiding in a shop shivering with fear of being attacked by the mob.
On March 21, the court has sent three accused Muhammad Nadeem, Adil Sarwar and Iltamish Saqlain to jail on judicial remand.
Speaking in the courtroom, the investigation officer (IO) in the case said that although three-day physical remand period was over, still the investigation was not complete as yet; therefore the court was requested to grant an extension in the physical remand of the suspects. “We have to recover rods and sticks from them. We also have to interrogate them about their accomplices,” the officer said.
He went on to say that the suspects had tried to kill the girl. “Besides that, they also tried to harass her by inciting the mob,” the IO said, adding, “However, the police by taking timely action saved the girl’s life.”

Reporter: Jamaluddin Jamali