Punjab Police on Thursday arrested a female TikToker after her viral claim to be the mother of the alleged ‘rape victim’ of Punjab College was proven false.
In the viral video, the woman was seen claiming to be the mother of the alleged rape victim and related gruesome details of the incident which all turned out to be false as the case was declared to be a manifestation of disinformation.
The news of the alleged rape incited violent protests in different cities of the province.
Sarah Khan was arrested on the charges of making false claims, provoking public sentiment against government authorities and urging the people to gather for demonstrations in her TikTok video.
The Organized Crime Unit (OCU) of Lahore’s Model Town police made the arrest after a case was registered against her in the Gulberg police station.
Deputy Inspector General Imran Kishwar of OCU told Dawn that a police team arrested Sarah on Thursday when she went to Lahore High Court to get bail in a case filed against her by the Federal Investigation Agency’s cyber crime wing.
Furthermore, he added that the complaint against her was lodged by Gulberg police sub-inspector Mohammad Imran under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PECA) Act, 2016 and other charges.
The DIG told media that during the investigation the woman was originally a resident of Karachi but has a permanent address in Multan.
DIG Kishwar said that Sara Khan has been handed over to the JIT-responsible to probe the investigation of the case-for further investigation.
OCU Model Town Superintendent Police Aftab Phularwan was the convener of the JIT while other members include DSP Faisal Shareef, woman inspector Fiza and one representative each was included from Intelligence Bureau (IB) and FIA.
The evidence collected by the seven-member committee formed by the Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz, has presented its finding in the Punjab College alleged rape case. It declared that the alleged rape incident of a college student was based on fake news that was viral on social media.
During the formulation of the report, the committee recorded the statements of the alleged rape victim and her parents, who categorically denied that such an incident took place.
They further informed the committee that the girl got injured at home, leading to her being admitted to a private hospital for treatment. They also said that the girl had never been a student of the said campus and that she did not attend college from October 2 onwards because of her injury. College record also complied with this statement.
Punjab College had already announced that no such incident happened at said institute.
