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LAHORE: Comments from the chief police investigator suggesting that the victim of a gang rape in Pakistan that occurred along one of the safest roads in the country was the culprit have sparked shouts of outrage.
Investigators say the victim left her home with her two children in Lahore and was driving when her car ran out of fuel around 1.30 a.m.
She called a relative and the highway police helpline, but before they arrived, two men approached, smashed the car windows and dragged the woman and her children into a field next to the road, where she was raped. in a group.
Twelve suspects have been arrested so far, Musarrat Cheema, a spokesman for the Punjab province government, said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a statement on Twitter that he was following the case closely and had asked investigators “to arrest and sentence those involved in the incident as soon as possible,” adding that his government would study how to strengthen the laws to deal with an apparent increase in rape cases of women and children.
On Thursday, Omar Sheikh, the lead investigator on the case, said on a television news program that the victim should have taken another road, Grand Trunk Road, and should have made sure he had enough fuel for the trip.
The road the attack took place on was built to replace the centuries-old Grand Trunk Road, which is riddled with traffic, and is equipped with CCTV and a dedicated police force. Sheikh declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
Shireen Mazari, the human rights minister, said on Twitter that the investigator’s statements were “unacceptable.”
“The right to access public spaces and safe mobility is a fundamental right of all people in Pakistan, including women,” the Women in Law Initiative, a group of lawyers and rights defenders, said in a statement. in which he condemns the attack and points out an increasingly frequent in similar cases of violence against women and girls.
In February, lawmakers approved a bill calling for those convicted of child sexual abuse and murder to be hanged in public. But the government opposed the bill and it did not become law.
