Two women allegedly raped

Victims were lured by suspects, with promises of marriage certificates and jobs

DIJKOT:

Two women were allegedly raped under the false pretext of receiving fake marriage certificates and the provision of employment. After registering cases, police started conducting raids to arrest the accused.

A resident of 263 RB Samandari Road, told police that she had gone to Khurrianwala for work earlier this week, where she met Muhammad Ashraf who offered her a job, boasting that he had multiple contacts to ensure her employment. He took the victim’s phone number and kept calling her that he searching for a job for her.

On Thursday, the victim was instructed to go to Dijkot bus stand under the pretext that the suspect wanted to introduce her to one of his contacts who could get her a good job. The accused then took her to Faisalabad in a white car, where at an unknown location, he allegedly took her inside a house and raped her at gunpoint. The suspect later left her on Samandari Road and escaped.

In a separate incident, a resident of Dastgir Colony was allegedly raped by the accused Nauman Ali by making a fake marriage certificate. According to details, the victim asked for a copy of her marriage certificate so she could change the marital status on her ID card.

Nauman Ali provided a copy of the certificate, which turned out to be fake after verification. When Nauman was told that he had committed adultery by fraudulently forging a marriage certificate, he began threatening to kill the victim.

The police registered separate cases against the named accused in both the cases and started raids to arrest the accused.

Sexual assault and rape are not uncommon occurrences in Punjab, particularly under false pretexts of employment or marriage. In April of this year, three men allegedly gang-raped a woman after luring her to a location by offering a job.

According to the police report, the victim said that the accused, Emad and Samar Ali, came to her house on March 23rd, offering her a job as a maid in their relative’s house. The victim agreed and left her house with the accused. Instead of taking her to her new job, the accused took her to a house in Baowala, where an unknown suspect was already present.

They allegedly locked the door of the house and gang-raped the victim at gunpoint. According to the victim, they took turns assaulting her, hitting her with the butt of the pistol whenever she made noise. Upon filing the victim’s report, Jhang Bazar police registered a case against the two named and one unknown accused and started raids to arrest them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2022.