A girl who had filed a first information report (FIR) alleging that she was raped by three men in Lahore after being lured into traveling there from Karachi has withdrawn her case on Thursday. She explained that the FIR registered on her complaint was due to a “misunderstanding”.
The FIR was registered on November 28 at Lahore’s North Cantt police station against three suspects on rape and abetment charges on the 18-year-old woman’s complaint.
However, on Nov 29, she recorded a statement before Lahore Cantt Judicial Magistrate Shahid Ali Khokhar saying, “I got the FIR registered against the accused persons due to misunderstanding. No one committed Zina (rape) with me. I do not want to pursue the FIR [and] the same may kindly be canceled.”
Previously, the girl had also refused to get herself medically examined.
The girl in her statement said that she resided in Karachi’s Quetta Town Society. She shared that she used to play the online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) during which she befriended a man named ‘H’.
The complainant said, “He told me to come to travel to Lahore and said that we would get married”. She continued that she arrived in the city on Nov 23 via train. She added that ‘H’ took her to the Rose Hotel where he raped her for three days.
According to the FIR, ‘H’ then refused to marry her and dropped her off at the train station on Nov 26 and left. The victim said that while she was waiting at the station, two men named ‘W’ and ‘Ha’ met her and promised to find her a job.
She shared that the two men took her to a house on Sarwar Road where two more men assisted them in taking her into a room. The victim said that ‘W’ and ‘Ha’ then raped her several times, but she eventually escaped.
She had requested the authorities to take action against all three men who had raped her.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also took notice of the incident and asked for a report from the Lahore capital city police officer. He had also instructed officials to arrest the culprits as soon as possible and assured the victim of justice.
