A woman who had accused Pakistan cricket team skipper Babar Azam of sexual and financial abuse has allegedly signed an affidavit, saying that allegations levelled against Babar Azam were “baseless”, an undated video suggested on Friday.
In the video, the woman — who claimed to be Azam’s ex-girlfriend — can be seen signing an affidavit. The lawyer representing Babar Azam to confirm that she didn’t know Babar Azam and that she accused him of sexual misconduct at the behest of “some friends”.
But did that really happen?
Well, some say the undated video is two years old and it was being shared at this time to influence the trial. A Facebook page of a journalist shared audio messages of the woman, wherein she said that the video was two-year old and was being used by Azam to “blackmail her”.
She said she did reach a settlement with Babar Azam in 2018, but in return, Babar had promised to marry her. This video has also been submitted in the court by Babar Azam, but the judge raised questions on its admissibility, she added.
On Thursday, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also summoned Babar Azam.
CASE AGAINST BABAR:
In December 2020, police had given a clean chit to Babar in the harassment case. According to reports, Additional Sessions Judge Nauman Naeem had taken up the petition of Hamiza Mukhtar against the Pakistani skipper.
The hearing had come after Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director of Media and Communications Samiul Hassan said that the sexual violence allegations against skipper Babar were a personal matter and the board could not comment on it.
According to Jang, the board’s spokesperson was responding to a question posed by the Urdu daily after a damning press conference by one Hamiza of Lahore, who claims to be Babar’s schoolfellow and neighbour.
Addressing the presser, the woman had claimed that the young cricketer tricked her into love and marriage.
“When I asked him to marry me, he tortured me,” she said.
Hamiza said that she had financially supported Babar when he was struggling with his career, adding that she spent millions of rupees on him.
“When I called the PCB to lodge a complaint, they said that it was a personal matter,” she continued.
During the proceedings in the sessions court, the counsel of the petitioner sought time to submit documents in the court and said that the entire case was based on medical reports.
Azam’s counsel, Barrister Harris Azmat, while requesting the court to reject the petitioner’s plea, said that Azam was a national cricketer and hero, adding that Hamiza had started blackmailing the national cricket team captain in 2016 whereas the police had cleared him in an investigation.
Police also submitted an investigation report in the court, as per which the national cricketer was found innocent and the woman was leveling baseless allegations.
“The court should reject the petitioner’s plea,” he had said.
Barrister Azmat said that Azam’s case was being covered by Indian media and the woman may have targeted the national cricketer once again at the behest of someone.
