ISLAMABAD: A teenage girl was abducted and subjected to gang rape in the capital, police said on Monday.

However, the police registered a case four days after the incident at the Phulgran police station and arrested a woman. The case was registered under section 375A (gang rape) and 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment).

According to the FIR, the girl left her house located in Phulgran to buy milk at about 6:30pm on May 1, but did not return. Her mother started searching for her and was told by children playing in the street that a woman residing in the neighbourhood had taken her away in a black car.

At around 8:30pm, the mother called the police helpline and in response the police reached the spot, the FIR said. Later, the police told her to come to the police station the next day and lodge a complaint.

Spokesman says woman involved in abduction arrested, officials to face departmental action for negligence

The next morning, at around 9am, the owner of a laundry shop brought the girl to her house on a motorcycle and told the mother that a woman along with a man had dropped her at his shop.

On inquiry, the girl told her mother that the woman residing in the neighbourhood asked her to accompany her to a market as she was going to buy green grocery in her car.

However, the woman drove her to a house where another woman, two girls and three boys were already present, the FIR said. The two women threatened her and locked the girl in a room along with the three boys who subjected her to gang rape and left the house at 1am.

The woman, who had taken her to the house, then dropped the girl at the laundry shop where she remained till 9am when the owner came and took her home.

The mother took the girl to the police station on May 2, however, the police asked her to leave and come back the following day, the FIR said. She visited the police station on May 3 and lodged a complaint, seeking justice.

A police official told Dawn that the complaint remained in the police station unattended for a day and on May 4 the police registered the FIR. Police spokesman Taqi Jawad, when contacted for comments over the delay in the registration of the case, told Dawn that the subdivsional police officer (SDPO) Bhara Kahu had initiated departmental action against officials involved in negligence.

“So far, the woman who abducted the girl has been arrested and sent to jail on judicial remand,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2024