LAHORE: The alleged gang-rape of a woman during house robbery and surge in street crime on Thursday exposed the city police high-ups’ lack of expertise in fighting crime.

The same day, the dacoits robbed over a dozen houses, drove away with 19 motorbikes and looted many families on the roads.

One of the major reasons for this sorry state of affairs was said to be the appointment of ‘inexperienced’ police officials, particularly the divisional SPs and the station house officers who were posted during the caretaker set-up with a sole purpose of managing election activities in the city.

Woman gang-raped during house robbery

An official alleged that most SPs would spend their time either at their offices or with their friends in the markets rather than holding crime meetings.

The crime prevention, which has been the major assignment of the police department, declined when the SHOs [allegedly] stopped taking interest in their job as most of them were struggling these days to get their posting back to their home districts.

The Thursday’s [incidents of] crime further painted a gloomy picture of the volatile situation, particularly the incident of gang-rape of the housewife by the dacoits.

The source said three robbers barged into the house of a citizen in Gujjarpura, looted valuables including cash and jewellery, then held the family members hostage. Later, they allegedly gang-raped the woman. The suspects managed their escape. The (Operations) DIG along with other senior officials visited the house.

In other incidents, two robbers looted Imran Ali in Manawan area, depriving him of Rs785,000.

In Lower Mall, armed men deprived Khalid Mahmood and his friends Mohammad Hussain and Arslan of Rs95,000 at gunpoint.

Three robbers entered the residence of Mohammad Raza in Umar Block, held family hostage and took away cash and other valuables worth over Rs50,000.

Before leaving the house, the criminals locked the family in a washroom.

Robbers entered the house of Imran in Harbanspura area near Lal Pul and looted Rs435,000 and jewellery.

In Ghalib Market area, the dacoits entered the house of Najaf Hussain Bukhari, held up the family at gunpoint and deprived them of Rs100,000 besides cell phones.

Similarly, robbers deprived Ibrahim and his family of Rs2.4 million during house robbery and fled the scene hurling life threats for reporting the matter to the police.

In street crime, the robbers held up Fayaz Hussain and his family at gunpoint, snatched jewllery from ladies and cash to the tune of Rs700,000.

Shahid Ali was deprived of Rs17,000 at gunpoint by the armed men in Shalimar police jurisdiction and Mohabbat Ali of Rs22,000 in Qaid-i-Azam Industrial area.

In the jurisdiction of Chuhng police, woman Ammara Shahzad was held up at gunpoint by the robbers and deprived of Rs82,000 besides jewellery.

Zeshan Ali was on his way to market along with his friends in Sanda area where robbers snatched from him Rs50,000 at gunpoint.

In Factory Area, two robbers stopped Ali Raza and fled the scene after looting from him Rs170,000.

The criminals deprived Imtiaz of Rs95,000 and his motorbike in Samanabad area.

Similarly, the robbers looted Rs27,000 and a motorbike from Muzammil in the area of Islampura police.

Thieves also went on rampage in the city as they took away 19 motorbikes in various hits.

According to the reported crime, motorbike of one Abdul Rehman was stolen from Chuhng near Shahpur Kanjran.

Similarly, thieves took away bike of Asif Ali from Shafiqabad, of Rashid from Ravi Road, of Liaqat Ali from Shahdara, of Naimat from Shadbagh, of Nadeem Ishtiaq from Ichhra, of Babar Hussain from Nishtar Colony, of Arshad from Kahna, of Ali Nawaz from Mughalpura, of Fayaz from Nawankot, of Rashid from Iqbal Town, of Imran from Sattokatla, of Ghulam Abbas from Hanjarwal, of Abdul Sattar from Factory Area, of Shafaqat from Defence A, etc.

They also deprived Kashif of his auto rickshaw in Hanjarwal while three thieves took way Rs1.2 million and a pistol from the godown of Haji Munir in Shahdara area.

Similarly, thieves entered the house of Muazam Sajjad in Defence area and took away foreign currency, jewellery and cash worth Rs1.3 million.

When contacted Lahore Capital City Police Officer B A Nasir said the recent high figures of crime in the city are the result of ‘hassle-free’ registration of cases.

“We have strictly implemented the IG’s orders of registering crime rather to conceal the incidents. As the Eid is approaching fast, citizens and families are visiting markets for shopping. Resultantly, the criminals are targeting them,” the CCPO said and dispelled the impression of lack of interest of the police officers.

“The IG had appointed best-available police officers in the provincial capital which is evident from the fact that these officials played their role in holding elections peacefully,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2018