The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have filed a case against two suspects for allegedly gang-raping a 26-year-old social media influencer in Haripur district by luring her on the pretext of a job, it emerged on Friday.
The first information report (FIR) of the incident, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was filed on the woman’s complaint at Haripur district’s Khanpur Police Station a day ago under Sections 34 (common intention), 376 (punishment for rape), 392 (punishment for robbery) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation; If threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, etc) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR said the incident occurred in Khanpur tehsil on Wednesday at 8pm.
The victim, who hails from Taxila, said she was “contacted by the suspect through her TikTok account and offered a job at a hotel in Khanpur”.
She added, “The suspect called me for an interview. When I reached the bus stop, they picked me up in their car and drove a few miles away, where they forced me to strip at gunpoint.”
The FIR said that an unknown man was driving the car, with the other suspect sitting in the front seat. It added that the two suspects subsequently raped her and later fled with her mobile phone, Rs3,000 and a gold pendant after leaving her on the side of the road.
Despite the presence of anti-rape laws — with punishment for rape either resulting in the death penalty or imprisonment of between 10 and 25 years — cases continue to prevail in the country.
Earlier this month, Hafizabad police launched raids to arrest eight suspects who allegedly abducted a couple in the district and subjected them to physical and sexual assault.
The previous month, a stage actress was gang-raped by four suspects near Nishtar Chowk, Sadiqabad.
In March, Punjab police arrested three suspects for allegedly gang-raping a woman in Lahore.