Twitter is trending with #RemoveCCPOLahore as people criticize and demand removal of CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh for blaming the Lahore motorway rape victim.
The Lahore motorway rape victim, a woman whose identity is being kept private was traveling with her children early Wednesday around 1:30AM when her car ran of out fuel stranding her on the road.
After the woman was denied help by motorway police helpline, she was waiting for assistance by her family in the car when two unidentified assailants spotted her and attacked the car.
They forced the woman out of the car along with her children and took them to a nearby field where she was gang raped at the hands of these assailants who then robbed her of her valuables and fled the scene.
Read more: Woman gang raped at Lahore Motorway near Gujjarpura.
The medical report of the Lahore motorway rape victim confirmed the accusation made and a case was registered on the complaint of a family member.
CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh was instructed to lead the investigation into the motorway incident however, the officer made a remark on television indirectly blaming the victim for what happened.
According to CCPO Lahore, it was the fault of the Lahore motorway rape victim for not taking a straight route through GT Road. Furthermore, he asked as to why she was even traveling alone at night with her children.
Minister for Human Rights Takes Notice
Even Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari took notice of the statement and tweeted about how unacceptable it was on his part. The tweet stated:
For an officer to effectively blame a woman for being gang raped by saying she should have taken the GT Road or question as to why she went out in the night with her children is unacceptable & have taken up this issue. Nothing can ever rationalise the crime of rape. That’s it.
However, CCPO Lahore stuck to his statement again blaming the Lahore motorway rape victim for the incident saying that it could have been avoided if she did not travel late at night.
According to the officer, it is unacceptable in our society for woman to travel alone in the late hours of the night and the rape victim confused Pakistan with France.
Government conveys objections to CCPO Lahore
The Federal Government has also conveyed its obhjections to CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh regarding his statement blaming the Lahore motorway rape victim for what happened according to the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar.
Furthermore, SAPM Akbar stated that CCPO Lahore had apologized for this statement and any resulting consequence promising that culprits behind the heinous crime will be brought to justice.
Akbar also requested that the identity of the victim be protected by press and police saying that we all have to work together to make our society safe and livable for all.
#RemoveCCPOLahore – People demand removal of CCPO Lahore
People angry by the statement of CCPO Lahore took to Twitter with hashtag #RemoveCCPOLahore demanding that the officer be removed from his post for making such a remark.
Here are some tweets with hashtag #RemoveCCPOLahore:
Social media personality Waqar Zaka also took to Twitter highlighting the issue where CCPO Lahore blamed the Lahore motorway rape victim.
Pakistani actor Osman Khalid Butt also found it unacceptable for a an officer responsible for safety of citizens to make such a statement towards a heinous crime.
Ali Moeen Nawazish also made a tweet criticizing the CCPO Lahore over remarks blaming the Lahore motorway rape victim.
Read more: Lahore motorway gang rape incident: 12 people arrested.