Teen gang-raped in Pakistan’s Punjab, CM Maryam gives cops 48 hours to solve case

Lahore, Sep 24 (PTI) A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped during a highway robbery in front of her family in Pakistan’s Punjab province, prompting Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to give a 48-hour deadline to the police for arresting the culprits.

The incident took place in Pakpattan district, some 200 kilometres from Lahore, on Monday.

According to police, a man was going to his hometown in Bahawalnagar along with his wife, two children and a 17-year-old niece after visiting relatives in Pakpattan.

The car they were travelling in was intercepted by four armed suspects on the highway, some 20 kilometres from Pakpattan.

According to the FIR, "The suspects first snatched gold ornaments, mobile phones, cash and and car keys from them and then they forcibly took the teenage girl to the roadside maize fields." Two robbers allegedly gang-raped the girl while their other two companions held the other members of the family hostage at gunpoint.

Police reached the spot a couple of hours after the incident and shifted the victim to a hospital where her condition is stated to be stable.

Senior police officer Tariq Wallayat said three investigation teams have been formed to trace the culprits.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz gave a 48-hour deadline to police to arrest the culprits. She said the rapists will be brought to justice and given exemplary punishment.

This incident reminded of the horrific 2020 Lahore motorway gang-rape incident in which a Pakistan-origin French woman was gang-raped before her two children by two robbers after the gas of her car ran out.

Police later arrested both rapists who were subsequently awarded the death sentence. PTI MZ GSP GSP