Esra Bilgiç slams CCPO Lahore over Motorway incident remarks

'Women can drive alone, only thing you need to do is provide security," said the actor in her lengthy note

Lahore’s Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh became the talk of the town after his highly controversial remarks about the survivor of gang rape on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway on September 9, with several opposition lawmakers demanding his removal from the post.

The CCPO drew trenchant criticism from almost every quarters after he pontificated that the survivor had failed to take due precautions before setting out for her journey, in remarks to a private TV channel. "What surprises me is that, being a mother of three (young) children and the only driver (unaccompanied by an adult male), why would she not take the GT Road that has population around it? If nothing else, she should have checked her fuel...," he said.

He was subsequently called out for victim-blaming with several netizens demanding his removal from the post. The celebrity fraternity also took notice of the ill-timed comments and criticised the victim-blaming mindset in the country.

And just yesterday, days after the CCPO's statements, Diriliş: Ertuğrul famed Turkish actor Esra Bilgiç also called out Sheikh for blaming the survivor instead of apologising for not having been able to ensure her safety.

Taking to her Instagram stories Bilgiç wrote, "Women can drive alone or with their children. Only thing you need to do is provide security."

"You're okay with gangs' presence on your roads as a police officer? You think that if a woman chooses those roads to drive, there is a right to rape and kill them?" asked the actor, who came across the incident on a BBC News report.

"You're displaying a shocking ignorance of this matter," Bilgiç continued in a series of now-deleted Instagram stories. "Before you advise, you should change your thoughts it seems impossible."

Earlier, Pakistani actors Osman Khalid Butt, Mansha Pasha and Mehwish Hayat had echoed similar sentiments.

On September 14, Shaikh, who was recently posted as the Lahore CCPO, said if his comments had offended anyone then he apologises, to not only the survivor but also to all others from the 'depth of his heart'. “I had also earlier apologised for the statement,” the CCPO claimed. “There was no ill intention or motivation behind it.”

But the Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan said that the entire provincial cabinet should have apologised for the controversial remarks.

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