On September 7, a woman was driving with her children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway after midnight when her car ran out of fuel. She called a relative and the motorway police. The motorway police did not respond because the location was outside their jurisdiction. The woman was helpless and got attacked.
Unidentified assailants attacked her as she stopped her vehicle, they smashed her car window before raping her in a nearby field and robbed her of cash and jewellery. Local media reported that her children were made to watch the entire episode.
On Friday, provincial police said the newly constructed highway did not have any police deployed to protect travelers, and that they would be commencing those duties.
Shortly after the incident, Lahore police chief Umar Shaikh became the subject of national outrage when he appeared to blame the victim for the rape, saying the woman should not have been travelling alone at that time.
What I believe is that such people shouldn’t be deployed in these posts in the police sector as we expect them to be protectors of the state.”
According to the Punjab police, there have been at least 2,043 registered cases of rape and 111 cases of gang rape in the province this year.
Is this number not enough to take serious action?
Women and girls in Pakistan face abuse in various forms such as honor violence, danger on the way to school, abuse in prison, denial of care in hospitals and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Worse yet, police themselves have been implicated in rape in Pakistan. Women and girls will not have the freedom they are entitled to -to study, work, or live – until the Government does more to protect their rights.
There is a need for carefully designed training to inculcate the spirit of community-friendly policing.
“Each province needs a gender crimes unit staffed by specially trained women, along with hotlines, crisis shelters, immediate medico-legal aid, DNA testing, help in registering the case at the nearest police station, and longer-term PTSD trauma counseling and therapy.”
Such brutality and bestiality cannot be allowed in any civilized society. Such incidents are a violation of our social values and a disgrace to society.
I am seriously shocked! What are we waiting for? Why is our cabinet quiet? Why are they not passing any strict law against it?
They should at least enforce an Islamic law i.e. these rapist should be stoned to death.
This incident happened 12 days back and many investigation teams were formed. But still the main culprit is not behind bars….
Police have identified the prime suspect, named Abid Ali, after his DNA matched with samples of the victim .The suspect is a resident of Fort Abbas, a town in Bahawalnagar. He is a 27-year-old man and is a proclaimed offender with a criminal record. Abid has been nominated in multiple cases earlier as well. Abid has a vast criminal background. The police said the DNA of the accused has been found in the 2013 data samples.
He also raped a mother and a daughter in 2013, according to police sources.
Police is questionable here, why didn’t they take any action against him? If the police had played their role correctly then this innocent lady would not have been a victim!!!I still wish that the police learn a lesson from this horrible episode and work hard to put criminals like Abid behind bars.
Moreover, they (rapists) should be given exemplary punishments. This in my opinion should be that they should be publicly hanged. Also for future preferences, the government should consider sentencing this punishment for those who rape and abuse children.