‘Shoot me dead and don’t tell anyone,’ motorway gang-rape survivor quoted as telling first responders

The survivor of the motorway gang-rape has been quoted by a journalist as asking the first responders to shoot her dead and do not tell anyone about what had happened.

“A journalist friend was told by an investigating official that when the police reached the crime scene of #MotorwayRape the survivor started begging the cops to shoot her dead and not tell anyone about the incident,” journalist Ailia Zehra tweeted.

A journalist friend was told by an investigating official that when the police reached the crime scene of #MotorwayRape the survivor started begging the cops to shoot her dead and not tell anyone about the incident. Can’t even begin to imagine what she must be going through 💔

— Ailia Zehra (@AiliaZehra) September 10, 2020

“Can’t even begin to imagine what she must be going through,” she added.

THE INCIDENT:

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.

LEAs EXPOSED:

Separately, the delayed response to emergency calls made by the motorway rape victim have also exposed the level of coordination among the law enforcement agencies despite the government spending billions of rupees on the Safe City Project, The News reported Friday.

An initial investigation into the incident and contradictory statements of senior officers confirmed that there was a lack of coordination between the Lahore Police and Motorway Police that resulted in a delayed response providing criminals enough time to flee after committing the crime.

On the second day of the incident, Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh said the victim had not called the police herself for help. Some of her relatives called the Motorway Police at 1:30 am.

On the other hand, Motorway Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kaleem Imam said that the victim called the Motorway Police at 2:01 am and was informed that the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway does not fall in their jurisdiction.

However, the Motorway Police forwarded the call to the FWO immediately. The lady didn’t get any help from the FWO either.

Later on, a claim of the Dolphin Force surfaced that they received 15 calls at 2:49 am and reached the spot at 2:53 am. A cop of Dolphin Force said as he reached the spot, the woman was “stunned”.

“She didn’t speak. She mustered up the courage after some time and then told the whole tragedy.”

However, the Gujjarpura police in its FIR stated that they reached the spot at 4 am and didn’t find anyone there.

A senior police officer requesting anonymity told The News that factually the Lahore Police and the Motorway Police had delayed the response over jurisdiction.

They said the Safe City Project was launched after spending billions of rupees for a well-coordinated response and surveillance but the recent incident has exposed it as well.

They added that call logs should be made part of investigations and strict action should be taken against the responsible persons.