Rickshaw driver, accomplice booked for raping woman, daughter in Lahore

Chung Police registered on Monday a first information report (FIR) against a rickshaw driver and another man for gang-raping a woman and her teenage daughter on Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Avenue in Lahore the previous day.

The FIR was registered on the woman’s complaint under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the 35-year-old woman told police that she and her 15-year-old daughter had reached Lahore from Vehari in a bus on Sunday at around 10pm. She said they hailed a green-coloured rickshaw at Thokar bus terminal to travel to her sister’s house in Officers Colony, Saddar Cantonment Board.

The FIR quoted her as saying that the rickshaw driver and another man in the vehicle instead took them to a deserted place on LDA Avenue and raped her and her daughter.

The woman said she and her daughter started shouting after they saw the lights of a car that stopped near the spot, at which the rickshaw driver and the other suspect left their vehicle behind and fled. She said the suspects took away her mobile phone and Rs5,000 cash with them.

Meanwhile, the woman said, someone called the police after listening to her shouts and subsequently police reached the scene.

She said she would be able to identify the suspects if they were produced before her, according to the FIR.

Later, Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar issued a statement saying that an investigation had been launched and police had impounded the suspects’ rickshaw.

He said teams had been formed for the arrest of the suspects and evidence had been collected from the crime scene.

The CCPO added that the victims would be taken to a hospital for medical examination.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also took notice of the incident and sought a report from the CCPO.

He directed him to arrest the suspects within 48 hours and make all efforts to deliver justice to the victims.

According to sources privy to the development, police arrested one of the suspects on Monday whom they identified as Umar Farooq, the rickshaw driver. The sources said the suspect’s criminal record showed that he had previously been arrested in two rape cases last year and in 2018 – in Lahore and Okara, respectively.

The latest incident comes amid renewed focus on violence against women in Pakistan, following the murders of Noor Mukadam and Quratul Ain in July and the assault of a TikToker on Independence Day this month.