Latest Update (As of 23 October)
The government is focused on damage control regarding the Punjab College rape case, by attempting to calm the public and suppress further criticism of the government.
Last Wednesday, 16 October, the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif released a statement. She claimed that the whole incident was a fabricated story and there was no proof to back it up. She proceeded to criticize the opposing party claiming it to be orchestrated by PTI to spread chaos specifically during the SCO summit.
Then on Friday 18 October, the Lahore High Court held a hearing under Chief Justice Aalia Neelum. During the hearing, Punjab Advocate General Khalid Ishaq—while disregarding the accusations—claimed that no evidence was found to prove that the assault took place, other than the various statements of the students.
When questioned about the viral video of the presumed victim, he stated that the video is unrelated to the incident according to the family of the girl in the video. The parents cleared that their daughter was in hospital due to an injury she got from a fall at home and has not faced any such harassment.
Despite the government’s attempts, it failed to gain public trust. Many still claim that rather than holding a proper investigation, the administration is attempting to turn a blind eye to the brutal crime. The Punjab Government under CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif is being heavily criticized for its handling of the case. Some blame the Sharif family’s close relations with Mian Amer Mahmood, founder of the PGC.
While others criticize CM Maryam for her audacity in choosing to engage in politics against her opposition during such a sensitive time, this situation represents only a small fraction of the larger pandemic of crimes against women occurring throughout the country.
As public anger escalated across the country, Pakistani police responded by firing tear gas and charging at student protesters, resulting in the arrest of around 380 individuals for vandalism and arson. In addition, authorities imposed a ban on gatherings on the weekend (17 and 18 October). They also ordered all educational institutions to close. The Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing launched an investigation against those who were allegedly involved in spreading misinformation about the incident on the internet.
The Initial Details of the Case Are Detailed Below:
Despite decades of struggle and development, we as humans have failed to build a better safer world, as the crime against the female gender is uncontrollably rising across the globe. Most recently the infuriating Punjab College rape case and its mismanagement by the authorities is highlighting the systematic failure in our country.
Last week, social media erupted with reports that a security guard, in a Lahore campus, allegedly raped a first-year student from Punjab College, a private institution, on October 11, 2024. Since then the public outrage has led to many protests, a majority of them being carried out by students. Some of these marches have resulted in injuries as police and security forces cracked down on these young enraged protesters. It is reported that around 27 people were injured this Monday after student protestors clashed with the security team of the college and Lahore police. To calm down the angry citizens, the security guard accused of this alleged crime was been detained by the Punjab police.
The police are actively promising to solve this case to the best of their ability and bring the predator to justice. Despite these promises, Deputy Inspector General Faisal Kamran stated that no action can be taken since the alleged victim has yet not been identified and no other proof of crime has yet been discovered. The statement further added that there have been no reports lodged in a police station or to the college administration. Students protesting have rebelled against these justifications, claiming that CCTV footage of the incident was deleted.
This lack of proof has led many to believe that these unconfirmed reports on social media may be an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the private college rather than being a real case. Additionally, the Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) has released an official statement in response to the alleged rape incident claiming it to be false news, clarifying that no such incident has taken place on any of their campuses.
The biggest ethical dilemma behind this alleged rape of a female student is that it leaves behind a lot of what-ifs that must be answered. What if the only reason the victim and her family did not come forward was because of the stigma attached to this particular type in our society, where rather than punishing the abuser, we focus on blaming and disgracing the victim? This is a core reason behind many assaults going unpunished and unreported. While it is difficult to assign a specific number to these unregistered cases, some believe that only 3% of the cases in Pakistan are registered despite the Anti-Rape Law Pakistan passed in 2016.
To gain a better understanding of the 3% mentioned above, one can dive into the following numerical breakdown. Last year a civil society organization released a report of crimes against women in Pakistan on International Women’s Day. The report brought to light the rising accounts of a 14.5% increase in sexual and physical violence against women all over the country, especially in Punjab. It reported that around 10,201 accounts of violence against women were recorded in the span of just one year. The report additionally revealed shocking statistics; on average approximately 28 women are forced to face some form of violence every day just in Punjab and, according to the 6,624 rape registered cases, at least one woman was raped every 45 minutes in 2023. This statistic does not include the 626 kidnappings, 120 honor killings, and 20 human trafficking cases of last year.
This epidemic of violence mentioned above consists of just the reported cases. While we can only see the tip, there is an entire iceberg underneath that we haven’t even started to uncover, hidden due to the fear of social stigma and retaliation by the abusers, justified distrust in the legal system based on low conviction rates, pressure from families, and secondary victimization.
Another big what-if is the question of whether this is false news, something that would spread like wildfire due to the nature of social media as claimed by the PGC. In this case, it could be simply an attempt at destroying the reputation of the educational institution as suggested above. Regardless of whether it is fake or not, the way the administration and authorities have been actively prioritizing silencing the students rather than addressing the root cause is a true tragedy that highlights the systematic failure at an institutional and societal level.
Although we all are busy debating whether the incident took place or not, it is important to realize the cruel reality of the world we live in where it is not so far-fetched to believe that something so heinous could happen and go unpunished due to the way we have weaved our social fabric. Even though it is important to find the truth, it is equally important to not overlook the underlying problem. No one can deny the massive need for societal and institutional change that can finally let women and girls all around the country live like humans and not prey.
If you want to submit your articles and/or research papers, please check the Submissions page.
The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
Ahwar Azhar is a student of Social Sciences majoring in International Relations, currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Bahria University, Islamabad. She is an aspiring IR scholar aiming to work in the areas of international stability, humanitarian relief, and international law. Her research interests include emerging technologies and national security.