1 week Ago By Firstpost
Reports of ‘rape’ of a college student have created uproar in Pakistan. Students in Punjab’s Lahore city staged protests against the alleged incident this week. Several Pakistani celebrities, including Mahira Khan and Sarwat Gilani, have condemned the purported rape at a private college in Lahore and called for justice.
However, the police have denied claims of sexual assault. Here’s what we know. Protests in Pakistan’s Lahore Lahore witnessed protests after reports spread on social media over the weekend that a first-year student was raped by a security guard at Punjab College for Women campus in Lahore’s Gulberg.
As per an AFP report, varied accounts claimed that the incident happened last Thursday or Friday evening in a campus basement. The college campus was shut down this week after the allegations surfaced. On Monday (October 14), several students gathered outside four campuses of the Punjab Group of Colleges in Lahore to protest against the alleged rape.
Protests turned violent, with students allegedly setting fire to college furniture. As students blocked roads, police baton-charged to disperse the demonstrators, reported PTI. At least 28 students, including girls, were injured in clashes with the police.
A statement issued by Rescue 1122 said that clashes erupted between security personnel and students at the Hafeez Centre Punjab College Campus, reported the Dawn newspaper. Sharaz Abbas, a student at Punjab College, told PTI that the police “brutally assaulted us both inside and outside the campus. Even the girl students were not spared.
” On Tuesday, the Progressive Students Collective (PSC), an association of different colleges and universities, held an anti-harassment rally to denounce the purported rape . As per Geo TV , the protesters organised a sit-in protest outside the Punjab Assembly, holding placards that read: “We Want Justice For Victim”. The group demanded an investigation into the alleged rape case, violence against students during Monday’s rally and incidents of harassment at Lahore Women’s College.
It also called for the setting up of a panel comprising independent human rights organisations, student representatives and judges. Students have vowed to protest until college campuses are made safe. “Even if it takes a month, we will continue to come here.
Shut the campus down. Hang that guard here,” Adeel, an 18-year-old student from a nearby college who participated in Monday’s protest, was quoted as saying by AFP. College, police deny ‘rape’ After initially dismissing the online reports of rape as “false”, the police said a security guard was arrested in relation to the case and a probe was on.
Speaking to Geo Pakistan on Tuesday, the Punjab police said that “there is no victim”. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Defence Shehrbano Naqvi said that the girl whose name was coming up was hospitalised 10 days before the alleged incident took place. “Her medical reports are available, the record of the hospitals she has been admitted to are also available, and information about the way she fell while getting ready for school at her own house is also available,” she said.
The ASP asked students who were spreading “fake” reports to share evidence that a girl was “raped”. She said the police have no proof that a student was sexually assaulted. The police said no first information report (FIR) has been registered as the victim or her family has not come forward to lodge a formal complaint.
In a post on X, the Punjab Police urged people who had “any information regarding the alleged rape” in Lahore to “immediately inform the authorities via by either calling 15 or through the Women Safety App”. “The name of the whistleblower will be kept confidential,” the police said. In a video statement on Tuesday, the director of the Punjab Group of Colleges, Agha Tahir Ijaz, claimed that nothing has been found on CCTV.
“We checked the CCTV records but did not find anything. We ourselves went to several police stations but no case was reported there,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn. Ijaz said that the CCTV footage is with the police.
“Students said the door to the basement was shut at the time of the alleged rape incident, but there are no doors at the basement of the Gulberg campus. The basement has an open entrance as vehicles are parked there,” the director said. Meanwhile, the girl’s family has reportedly rejected claims of rape.
In a video with ASP Naqvi, the student’s father and uncle, wearing masks, claimed “there has been no sexual assault”. The uncle said the girl was at a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after she sustained injuries to her back due to a fall at their house, reported Geo TV. Punjab govt forms committee Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday formed a “high-powered” committee to probe the incident.
The seven-member body, headed by the Punjab chief secretary, will also consist of the home secretary, advocate general, higher education secretary, special education secretary, specialised healthcare and medical health secretary. According to Express News , the panel will submit its report to the Chief Minister within 48 hours. Meanwhile, a Lahore resident has filed an application in the Lahore High Court against alleged cases of harassment at educational institutions.
The petitioner has requested a probe into these incidents. With inputs from agencies.
