Another Gang Rape Case On Motorway Disturbs Pakistan

TOBA TEK SINGH: Police recently reported that they had convicted a suspect regarding yet another gang rape case on the M-4 motorway near Gojra city in Punjab.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the 18-year-old victim’s maternal aunt, her niece had been offered a job interview for a boutique and asked to reach a location in Gojra at 2:30 pm on Monday.

But when the aunt and her niece arrived, the suspects took the victim with them to Faisalabad alone, claiming it was necessary for the interview. After the aunt agreed, her niece was left alone with the two male suspects who sexually assaulted the victim twice at gunpoint on the M4 motorway.

The suspects later deserted the woman near the Faisalabad Interchange and ran away.

Mahavar Khan, acting District Police Officer, Toba Tek Singh, confirmed the details in the FIR and further added that while one suspect was apprehended, the two left are actively being pursued.

The assailants, two men and one woman, have been criminalized under the Pakistan Penal Code’s section 365 B (kidnapping or inducing of a woman to compel for marriage or illicit intercourse) and section 376 (punishment for rape).

A medical examination was performed on the victim, which confirmed the sexual assault. A DNA test is underway.

In retrospect, this new incident occurring near the same timeframe as last year’s Motorway Gang Rape case (September 2020) is exceptionally harrowing.

In last year’s case, a woman travelling with her children was gang-raped on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway while waiting for the motorway police’s help regarding her car. Help that never arrived, despite calling their helpline repeatedly.

However, there was a breakthrough earlier this year. Abid Ali Malhi and Shafqat Ali, the two assailants in the case, were given the death sentence by an anti-terrorism court.