Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh on Monday apologised over his controversial statement regarding the motorway rape incident.
“I apologise to the victim and all others who were hurt by my remarks. I had no intention of giving any wrong impression,” he said.
The Lahore CCPO had earlier remarked that the rape victim should have been more careful and taken a safer route.
“I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” he had said while speaking to Dunya News.
Sheikh went had further said that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.
On Tuesday night, it was reported that two robbers had gang-raped a mother of three on the Motorway within Gujjarpura police’s jurisdiction.
The woman, along with her three children, was driving to Gujranwala in her car when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the Motorway after running out of fuel at around 1:30 am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 but she was reportedly refused help.
In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children. They also snatched her purse that had cash around Rs100,000, one bracelet, car registration and three ATM cards.
The Gujjarpura police have registered a case, while motorway police spokesperson said they had not been able to take action as the incident did not occur in the limits of Motorway Police.
At least one of the two culprits has been identified.
