LAHORE: The Gujranwala police registered a case against an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police on charge of raping a 23-year-old woman after a video clip went viral on social media in which she leveled allegations against the police official.

In her statement, she alleged the ASI had raped her on pretext of an inquiry when he came to her home for a probe in response to an emergency call against some young men. The men had entered her home on Sept 9, thrashed her and hurled threats at her.

According to the first information report (FIR), registered with the Aroop Police Station on behalf of the survivor’s father, the ASI had told the family that he was assigned the probe into the report against the young men.

Inquiry launched after ‘conflicting statements’ of woman

The woman’s father alleged in the FIR that the ASI had taken his daughter to a room of his house, locked it from inside and raped her in the name of an inquiry. The suspect had threatened her that he would implicate her and her family in a fake case if she reported the matter of rape to the police authorities.

The new rape case has surfaced at a time when the Punjab Police is in the limelight for failure to arrest one of the two prime suspects in Lahore motorway gang-rape case.

Gujranwala Regional Police Officer (RPO) Riaz Nazir Garah told Dawn there were some conflicting reports on the incident. He said the woman, in her first video clip, had accused the ASI of rape but in another statement before the police she said she was not assaulted while in her third video clip that she uploaded on the social media she alleged that the police had got the statement of their choice from her by exerting pressure on her.

Mr Garah said that after the conflicting statements by the woman he had deputed two senior officers for an inquiry into her allegations to dig out the facts.

Following the inquiry report, the Gujranwala police lodged an FIR against the ASI who secured the pre-arrest bail from court.

“We have shifted the woman to the hospital for medical examination in order to ascertain facts behind her rape allegations,” the RPO said and added the police had also decided to dispatch samples of the woman and the ASI to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for a DNA analysis.

Meanwhile, City Police Officer (CPO) Rai Babar Saeed, speaking to the media persons, confirmed that a medical test of the woman had been carried out. He said a four-member team had been formed under the superintendent of police (SP) to probe the matter.

The suspect, in his statement, denied the allegations and offered to join the investigation into the case.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2020