LHC summons CCPO, asks for progress report on motorway case

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh later today (Monday) to present a report regarding headway made in the motorway gang-rape case.

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan summoned the official while hearing a writ petition calling for the formation of a judicial commission to probe the incident.

During today’s hearing, the court ordered the official to appear with the investigation report at 1pm. “The CCPO should present a report on the progress made in the case so far,” Justice Qasim Khan said.

The petition, filed by Advocate Nadeem Sarwar, states that the motorway incident was not the first of its kind where police have shown “criminal negligence” and a “lack of professionalism”.

The petition also lambastes the Lahore CCPO for his misogynistic comments blaming the victim for leaving her home late at night, adding that his statement is “encouraging the culprits” and therefore calls for the formation of a judicial inquiry commission supervised by the court to probe the case and for action to be taken against Sheikh.

It also asks for the records and police progress in rape cases reported over the last five years to be made public and produced before the court.

During today’s hearing, the court was informed by the law officer that the motorway case was currently being investigated by police.

“What kind of an inquiry is this where the departmental head is holding the victim responsible for the incident?” remarked Justice Qasim Khan, referring to the CCPO’s comments.

“The entire Punjab cabinet should have apologised for the Lahore police chief’s remarks,” he added.

“If an investigation is being carried out with such a mindset then who knows what is reality and what is made up,” Justice Qasim Khan said.

Last week, two ‘robbers’ allegedly gang-raped a woman at gunpoint in front of her children in Lahore’s Gujjarpura area after she was stranded on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway.

According to the details available so far, the victim, a woman in her early 30s and a resident of Lahore’s Defence Housing Society, was stuck on the motorway with her two children at around 1am after her car ran out of fuel.

As she tried to arrange for help, two men approached her and took her and her children (under eight) into the nearby fields at gunpoint.

Once in the field, the attackers raped the woman in front of her children. By the time a police party and a relative of the woman had called arrived at the scene, the attackers had fled, taking with them the cash and valuables the victim was carrying with her.

As the investigation into the incident started, there were reports that the victim had called the helpline of Motorway Police, but she was denied assistance because the area in question was not covered by the Pakistan National Highway and Motorway Police.

Following the incident, the CCPO invited criticism when he pontificated that the victim had failed to take due precautions before setting off for her journey.

According to the Lahore police chief’s logic, the woman could have avoided being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He said she should have taken the more populated GT Road to Gujranwala instead of going via motorway, and that she ought to have checked how much fuel her car had before setting off.