University student alleges gang-rape

Survivor accuses fellow engineering student

LAHORE: A student at a private university has filed a case against a fellow student of raping her and then forcing her to abort the resulting pregnancy. The prime suspect has been granted pre-arrest bail for a day.

The rape survivor stated in the FIR that she was a student at the English department and became friends with an engineering student named Ishtiaq at the same university. The two met for the first time on December 10, 2015.

Ten days later, the petitioner said, the suspect took her to his friend named Dr Riazat Hussain at Ali Hospital in Thokar Niaz Baig, where she was introduced to another man called Shabbir.

The woman said she was given a glass of juice laced with intoxicants and she fell unconscious after drinking it.

The three men then gang-raped her while she was unconscious.

The petitioner said the rape resulted in a pregnancy, which was later confirmed by an ultrasound at the Shaukat Khanam hospital on February 26, 2016.

Ishtiaq, she said, promised to marry her after learning about the pregnancy. On March 3, the couple went to Ittefaq Hospital, where they found out she was pregnant with twins. But a few days later, the suspect took the help of Dr Riazat and aborted her pregnancy of 16 weeks on March 12.

The survivor got the FIR registered at Lahore’s Chung police station under Section 376 of Pakistan Penal Code. The section suggests punishment of no less than 10 years for rape.

If two or more people in furtherance of common intention of all commit rape then, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, it states. Later, Ishtiaq filed a pre-arrest bail, telling the court he had been implicated in a forged case designed to humiliate and black-mail him.

He said he had nothing to do with this case, which was registered by the complainant in connivance with the local police. He requested the court to grant him bail.

The court has granted him bail till September 22 and fixed the date for arguments.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2016.