Foreign women rape case: Incomplete police report clears five suspects of sexual assault charges

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>LAHORE: An incomplete investigation report (challan) filed before a trial court in connection with the alleged <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2012477">gang rape of two foreign women</a> in July cleared five suspects, including one reportedly linked to a senior minister, of sexual assault charges.</p> <p>However, the report implicated them in other offences, including illegal detention and extortion.</p> <p>The police charged three other suspects, who were allegedly low-paid employees of one of the key suspects, with sexually assaulting the women.</p> <p>Defence C police registered the first information report (FIR) under Sections 365-A (kidnapping or abducting for extorting property, valuable security), 375-A (rape), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement, kidnapped or abducted person) and 337-L (II) (punishment for other hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in July.</p> <p>The investigation report said the two complainants alleged that they had met one of the three prime suspects in Singapore in 2025 and invited him to invest in their cryptocurrency business.</p> <p>After receiving returns on his initial investment, he invested a further $500,000. However, according to the police report, the women did not pay him any profits or return his investment this time.</p> <p>In June this year, the suspect invited the foreign women to Pakistan on the pretext of arranging a meeting with another investor. They stayed at a hotel in Islamabad and travelled to Murree and other areas.</p> <p>The investigation report alleged that the suspect subsequently told an associate that the women owed him money. The associate then involved another prime suspect, identified as “boss”.</p> <p>On June 29, the women were taken to a house in Defence Phase VII, Lahore, where they were allegedly detained and pressured to pay the amount.</p> <p>Police said the women were forced to transfer around $19,500, which was converted into rupees through a Lahore-based account. Of this amount, Rs1.1 million each reportedly went to two of the suspects.</p> <p>According to the report submitted to the court, the women alleged that armed men guarded them at the house, threatened them with a knife, a gun and a piece of broken mirror, and warned that they would be killed and their body parts sold if they failed to meet the demands.</p> <p>The report said the complainants’ statements and the investigation indicated that three suspects had committed sexual assault. Police said they found no evidence of rape against the other five suspects, including the relative of the political figure and the suspect identified as “boss”.</p> <p>The report further stated that the women escaped on July 1 when a car taking them to the airport met with an accident near Bhatta Chowk.</p> <p>They raised an alarm, following which the relative of the senior political figure fled, and the police took the women into their protection.</p> <p>Police also claimed to have recovered Rs4.3 million allegedly extorted from the women, along with a mobile phone and a vehicle allegedly used in the crime. Pistols and a rifle were also recovered, leading to the registration of separate cases under the Arms Ordinance, the report added.</p> <p>Another suspect was accused of renting the house to the group without informing the authorities, while a further suspect was allegedly involved in helping to destroy evidence.</p> <p>Sections 368 and 201 were added to the case on these grounds.</p> <p>Medical examinations of the complainants were conducted, and their statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were recorded before a magistrate.</p> <p>The incomplete investigation report further stated that DNA, fingerprint and polygraph tests had also been conducted, while call data records had been obtained.</p> <p>It added that the Punjab Forensic Science Agency’s reports were still awaited. Therefore, the police submitted an incomplete investigation report to avoid delays, despite having sufficient evidence against the suspects.</p> <p>The police asked the court to summon the suspects through notices.</p> <p>Additional District and Sessions Judge Rafaqat Ali Gondal has already distributed copies of the police report among the suspects and fixed Nov 11 for the next hearing.</p> <p>Advocate Salman Shahid, defence counsel for two of the suspects charged with sexual assault, accused the police of favouring the key suspects in its investigation. He claimed that his clients were low-paid employees of one of the key suspects and had been made scapegoats.</p> <p>One of his clients was a member of the janitorial staff at the property where the alleged incident took place, he added.</p> <p>In July, Lahore Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Faisal Kamran <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2013143?__cf_chl_tk=uEQQsQuG5eE4p1HyKwImft7MALlYCR.XhZHGHdbCbhY-1793694049-1.0.1.1-7w_x9KxD_3pUQUcejAWKa0RGnrZV7ecFOv20v6AECBQ">said</a> that the police had been ordered to treat a suspect — reportedly linked to a senior government minister — in the case like “any other criminal”.</p> <p>DIG Kamran had recounted the events leading up to the recovery of the women and the subsequent arrest of the suspects in a press conference. He said that during the investigation it had emerged that a “criminal gang” may have been behind the incident.</p> <p>He further vowed that the police would ensure no legal loophole — which could be exploited in favour of the suspect — was left.</p> <p>The two women departed Pakistan on July 3.</p> This development from dawn.com highlights ongoing changes in the sector.