Sikh celebrations soured by pilgrim rape claim

Case registered at the Nankana Sahib police station on the complaint of the victim’s husband.

LAHORE:

The occasion of Baba Guru Nanak Dev’s 543rd birth anniversary, for which more than 13,000 pilgrims had gathered at Nankana Sahib, was soured by allegations of a rape of a pilgrim.

The allegations fell on a police constable, who is said to have raped a Hindu woman on the premises of a Gurdwara.

The case was reported on November 8 at the Gurdwara Tambu Sahib, at a distance of one kilometre from Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace. However, the incident was hushed up by local authorities and the police, leaving most pilgrims unaware of the case, sources familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune.

The victim, one of around 10,000 Pakistani Hindu and Sikh pilgrims, had come to Nankana Sahib from Rahimyar Khan. More than 400 police personnel were deployed for the birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism.

The constable was reportedly caught red-handed in a room at Gurdwara Tambu Sahib by some Sikh pilgrims who gathered at the Gurdwara for religious rituals, sources said, adding that the pilgrims thrashed the constable and locked him in the room.

The constable was handed over to DPO Dr Haider Ashraf who later sent the accused to a police station, sources added.

A case was registered at the Nankana Sahib police station on the complaint of the victim’s husband. Shahbaz, a clerk at the police station, said the FIR has been sealed while the accused constable has been sent to jail on judicial remand.

“We have taken action against the accused according to directions from higher authorities,” SHO Sajjad Akber said in response to the allegation. Ashraf said all evidence gathered will be sent for a DNA test.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board, however, said there was no rape case and a police officer had walked into the women’s bathroom.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th,  2011.