Sexual assaults reported across provincial capital

The booking of two cops over rape, agitation against the police over allegations of protection of persons accused of murdering a 10-year-old girl and dumping her body in a swimming pool and other rape incidents marred the last week.

On August 28th, the body of a 10-year-old girl was recovered from a swimming pool in Manawan. The girl, hailing from Mehmund agency, was visiting Lahore with her siblings at the time. Their family and relatives staged a protest over the incident and alleged that she was raped. An FIR was registered and the suspected owner of the swimming pool was arrested.

However, the community remained unsatisfied with the police action. Rather, they alleged that the police had been protecting the true culprits.

Upon the decision of the Mehmund Community jirga, an agitation was held outside the Punjab Assembly on September 5th. Protestors blocked the roads, raised slogans against biased and correupt policing and demanded the arrest of the main culprits. The protest was called off after negotiations between police officers and the protestors. Police said that they had arrested another accused person, who happened to be the prime suspect in the case.

The next day, Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi summoned IGP Punjab Faisal Shahkar and CCPO Ghulam Mehmood Dogar regarding the case. He expressed his annoyance over police inefficiency in the case and ordered the officers to ensure investigations were conducted on a scientific basis and completed within three days.

Barely 48 hours had passed since the CM issued his orders when on September 8th, two constables along with another suspect were booked for the alleged gang-rape of a woman in Chung.

The victim in her complaint alleged that the suspect, Qari Hassan, was her acquaintance and he called her to his diary farm situated near LDA Avenue. When she arrived, he reportedly raped her.

The next day, he called her to the same location again after blackmailing her and took her to a deserted place, where two police constables were present. One of the constables allegedly raped her, while the other suspects kept on watching. The police constables were identified as Ahmad Ali, a resident of Shamkay Bhattian and Arsalan, a resident of Phoolnagar Kasur.

On the same day, two other cases of rape and attempted rape were also reported, as a suspect was arrested for reportedly attempting to rape a 10-year-old girl in Thokar Niaz Beg and three suspects over the alleged gang-rape of a 12-year-old boy in Manawan.

In the Manawan incident, the arrested suspects were identified as Ansar, Khuram Shahzad and Abdullah. In the other case during the day, a suspect was arrested for the attempted rape on a 10-year-old girl in Hanjarwal. The suspect Saqib had lured the victim and attempted rape.

On September 9th, a religious teacher was arrested over allegations of raping a student attending his Madrassah in Manawan. The arrested suspect, identified as Moazan Khan, allegedly raped the child.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2022.