SAHIWAL: A woman farm worker was gang-raped by two unidentified armed suspects in front of her husband during a robbery at Chak 17/EB of tehsil Arifwala.

According to reports, Muhammad Aslam, a farmer lived at his farmhouse with his wife and two children on the outskirts of the village. His three farm workers also resided in the servant quarters of the farmhouse along with their families and slept in the cattle shed.

On the night between Wednesday and Thursday, two armed robbers woke up the workers first and then Aslam’s family sleeping inside the house. They seized mobile phones and locked all the men, women, and children in one of the rooms.

The suspects took a workers’ wife with them on the pretext to lead them to cash and other valuables. When she resisted, the suspects tortured her and locked her in another room.

After robbing the farmhouse, the suspects gang-raped the worker’s wife and forced him to watch the rape.

According to the FIR, the robbers escaped with Rs50,000 cash, a motorcycle and two DAP fertilizer bags. They threw the mobile phones near the farmhouse.

Saddar Police Arifwala got forensic analysis of the crime scene and took the gang-rape victim to THQ hospital where the medical report confirmed rape.

The police registered a case on the complaint of Muhammad Aslam. Police sent samples for DNA analysis.

District Police Officer Tariq Walayat visited the victim and her family and assured them of justice. He formed an investigation team, headed by SP Investigation Shahida Noreen, to look into the matter.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2024