RAWALPINDI: Police have registered four cases of rape reported in the Rawalpindi division – one in Rawalpindi city and three in Sohawa tehsil of Jhelum district.

In a case registered with the Civil Lines police in Rawalpindi, a woman accused a lawyer of sexually assaulting her on the premises of the district courts.

The rape survivor in her FIR said that she had been kicked out of her house by her ex-husband in 2023 after being tortured. She said she went to the district court to file a petition for maintenance when she met the suspect who filed a complaint in the court of law in this regard.

She said the lawyer asked her to visit the court for a briefing about the case and how to contest the case in court. She said that following the call, she went to the district court and was taken to the chamber of the advocate, who locked the door and raped her despite her repeated pleas to let her go.

She said the lawyer then told her they would get married after she got the divorce. She said that she was taken to a different place on different occasions by the advocate who raped her but did not marry her. She said in the FIR that she was being threatened by the suspect.

Sohawa rape cases

Separately, three rape cases were reported at the Sohawa police station.

In the first case, a 33-year-old woman reported to the Sohawa police that she, accompanied by her 10-year-old daughter, had visited a hotel on G.T. Road in the jurisdiction of the Sohawa police station.

She said that she had gone to the hotel to seek financial assistance from the owner and the staff at the restaurant asked her to visit the owner’s house.

The woman said the owner took her to a separate room on the pretext of paying her some money but he sexually assaulted her despite her resistance. According to her, the daughter was left in the other room at the time of the assault.

The police have registered the case under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

In another case, a woman informed the Sohawa police that she had gone to the District Headquarters Hospital for a check-up and upon her return she noticed that her 14-year-old son had Rs1,000 in his pocket.

When asked about the money, her son told her that a man living in the vicinity had taken him to his house and subjected him to a sexual assault, and later on also gave him Rs1,000. The Sohawa police have registered a case under sections 376-iii and 367.

Police have yet to arrest anyone in both cases.

In the third case, an 18 years old girl went to a nearby field early in the morning when a worker employed at a local poultry farm attempted to rape her. The police registered a case under Section 377-b and started investigations. According to the SHO, the suspect, a resident of Multan, had been arrested.

Published in Dawn, October 21th, 2024