Punjab law minister Raja Basharat on Friday said that the motorway gang-rape is a ‘blind incident with no evidence’.
“This is a blind incident. There is no overt evidence to take the matter forward. We will have to develop the evidence through an investigation and have it corroborated and only then will we be able to get to a point where we can have a concrete picture,” the law minister told media after having surveyed the crime scene on Lahore’s Ring Road highway.
Late Wednesday night, a woman was allegedly assaulted, raped and robbed by at least two men in front of her children when her car ran out of fuel near Gujjarpura.
The minister said he ‘accepts’ that it is a challenge for the Lahore police, and therefore, is a challenge for the Punjab government. “Our monitoring committee is reviewing all administrative aspects and we are looking at how we can take the investigation forward,” he said. “There is a special committee formed by the IGP which is probing the incident under which about 28 teams are working. They are looking at the case from various angles. Whatever evidence we could collect from the crime scene we did and the forensic team will present a report soon. The lady’s medical tests have also been carried out,” he added.
About calls for removal of Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh over his remarks on the gang-rape of the woman, Basharat said that the government and chief minister are aware of the demand and that ousting or keeping him on the post is the latter’s prerogative.
To a question regarding why – even though the motorway has been functional for eight months – motorway police say it hasn’t been handed over to them, and how he thinks crime can be controlled when the police station that has jurisdiction is a whole 10 kilometres away, Basharat said the matter is between the National Highway Authority and the Frontier Works Organisation. “We are also examining this aspect of the matter – why there was an ineffective patrolling system. NHA says some work is remaining […] but this is a separate matter,” the law minister said.
Meanwhile, a man claiming to be an eyewitness to the incident, told a private TV channel via telephone that he “saw one of the robbers dragging the woman out to the fields”. “The man was also slapping the woman,” he claimed, adding that one other man was standing behind her car. The man said he called the 15 police helpline to inform them of the incident.
Earlier in the day, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, while addressing the media, demanded Lahore CCPO Sheikh’s removal and said that his remarks represent a “mindset that shames a rape victim”. “Lahore CCPO’s statement is encouraging the culprits, supporting them, it is affecting the investigation and is saying that the fault lies with that mother who was gang-raped,” she said. “On top of that, it is the height of injustice that the entire state, government, prime minister and Punjab chief minister are silent,” she said, adding that Sheikh’s remarks contradict Article 9 of the Constitution, which dictates that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty in accordance with law.
