The delayed response to the Motorway rape victim’s emergency calls has revealed the lack of cooperation between law enforcement authorities, despite spending billions of rupees on the Safe City Programed. An independent inquiry into the Gujjarpura gang rape incident and inconsistent claims by senior officers revealed that there was a lack of cooperation between the Lahore Police and Motorways Police, which culminated in a sluggish response allowing enough time for suspects to escape after the crime was committed.
CCPO Lahore Umar Sheik said the victim had not contacted the police themselves for assistance on the second day of the incident. Any of her family, at 1:30am, called the motorway police. On the other side, IG Motorway Kaleem Imam said that at 2:01am the victim called the Motorway Police and was told that the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway had no authority over them.
The Motorway Police nevertheless promptly referred the call to the FWO. Not even the lady got some support from the FWO. A Dolphin Force report later emerged that they had received 15 calls at 2:49am and hit the location at 2:53am. A Dolphin Force cop said the lady was “stunned” when he got to the location “They have not spoken. After some time she gathered the courage and then told the whole tragedy.”
The Gujjarpura police in their FIR, however, claimed they reached the spot at 4 am and found nobody there. A senior police officer requesting anonymity told The News that the response over jurisdiction had actually been delayed by the Lahore Police and the Motorway Police.
He said call logs should be part of inquiries and disciplinary measures against those responsible should be taken. Accountability advisor to the Prime Minister, Shahzad Akbar on Thursday acknowledged the “administrative fault” of the government in the case of rape on the Lahore motorway, vowing that the culprits would be apprehended at all costs.
“There is some [in the case] administrative fault that we have to accept as it took place on the main road linking the two motorways,” Akbar told a news conference, flanked by CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh. Akbar defended the remark made by the Lahore CCPO that raised a lot of eyebrows after the cop blamed the victim for their choice of route and late night riding.
I see the CCPO’s earlier comment generated an unneeded uproar, “Akbar said.” I’ve talked to him about it; he’ll tell you what he means by it. The aide of the Prime Minister said it was the duty of the government to ensure that bridges, motorways, streets, and highways were safe for men and women to travel. If such a case happens, it’s also the responsibility of the government to apprehend the culprits and bring an example out of them.
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