Sexual exploitation: ‘Nurse lured to big city, forced into prostitution’

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Hamid Hussain on Wednesday directed the Lorry Adda station house officer (SHO) to register a rape and forced prostitution case against five men and four women.

The petitioner submitted that she had worked as a nurse in Zulifqar Hospital Gujrat where she first met Amina Bibi and Mumtaz Bibi, who went there for treatment. She said that she became friends with them and they invited her to Lahore, saying they could get her a job as a nurse at a hospital in the provincial capital.

She said she travelled to Lahore on April 24 and was received at Lorry Adda by Muhammad Bashir and Muhammad Ashfaq. They took her to a house where Muhammad Saqib, Zubaida Bibi, Irshad Bibi, and two unidentified men were present.

The petitioner submitted that she was held hostage and raped, repeatedly. She said that the following day, they warned her not to tell anyone of the incident as they had made a video of it and would upload it on YouTube if she didn’t remain quiet. She said that they later forced her into prostitution. She said she complied with their wishes as she feared for her life.

She said she had escaped a few days ago and had approached the Lorry Adda police station to lodge a case against the five men and four women, but she had not been heard. She asked the court to direct the SHO to register a rape and forced prostitution case.

The court directed the SHO to register the FIR and proceed in accordance with the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.