In a shocking move, renowned US travel blogger Cynthia D. Ritchie has withdrawn her petition seeking registration of a criminal case against Senator Rehman Malik after reaching a settlement.
Cynthia moved to Islamabad High Court on Thursday seeking withdrawal of her petition against the former Interior Minister. The court accepted her plea and dismissed the case that accused Malik of rape and physical assault.
In return, the Senator also withdrew his defamation suit against the blogger.
Cynthia’s counsel, Imran Feroze Malik, said that the petition had been withdrawn at the request of Ritchie herself.
“Today we have withdrawn all the petitions based on multiple requests,” adding that it was on the request of Ritchie herself.
In June 2020, the blogger had made startling allegations that the former Interior Minister had raped and physically assaulted her when in office in 2011. In a video released on Facebook, Ritchie said:
In 2011, I was raped by the former interior minister Rehman Malik. That’s right, I’ll say it again. I was raped by the then interior minister Rehman Malik.
Ritchie claimed to have more graphics in possession to support her claims, which she was not releasing on social media because her audience could include children. She said she would be ‘happy to go into more detail’ with neutral investigative journalists.
A spokesperson for Malik denied the allegation and said:
He [Malik] does not want to respond directly, but denies the allegations. The allegations are untruthful and have been made to harm Senator Rehman Malik’s reputation.
The blogger then filed a petition with the IHC under sections 22-A and 22-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure, followed by a defamation lawsuit claiming damages against her from Malik’s lawyer.
However, the two made an out of the court settlement on Thursday and retracted cases against each other.
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