Foreign woman records statement before Lahore magistrate in alleged gang-rape case

A 20-year-old Azeri woman on Monday recorded her statement before a judicial magistrate in connection with an alleged gang-rape incident in Lahore. A day earlier, police apprehended three men and confiscated the vehicle allegedly used during the crime. The developments came in the backdrop of a case registered on the complaint of the Azeri woman under Section 375A (Gang Rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code against three suspects at Defence C police station in Lahore. The young woman subjected to assault said she came to the city on a business trip where she was lured, intoxicated and raped by three unidentified men in a private housing society near Raiwind during the night between September 25 and 26. The victim appeared before Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Sagheer today at the Cantonment Courts under tight security and recorded her statement under Section 164 (Power to record statements and confessions) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898. Speaking on the rape incident, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Operations Lahore Faisal Kamran said the investigation was being pursued jointly by the Crime Control Department (CCD), operations and investigation wings. Read: Lahore police identify suspects in alleged gang rape of Azerbaijani woman The Express Tribune has learnt that the police have also asked federal authorities to place all three suspects on the Provisional National Identification List after they reportedly left Lahore following the incident. The police said one of the suspects had been traced to Sialkot. Police have also detained two close relatives and a domestic worker of another suspect as part of the investigation. The incident is the second gang rape case reported involving foreign women within the jurisdiction of Defence-C police station in the past few months. Earlier in June, two foreign women, nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, were allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in the same area. According to the FIR in that case, five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, allegedly abducted the two women, demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault in captivity. The case According to the First Information Report (FIR), the victim had arrived in Lahore a few days before the alleged incident. The report said two unidentified women had lured her to a cafe, where three male friends of the women were already present. After spending some time at the cafe, the group allegedly took the Azeri woman to an apartment. Also Read: Four suspects in alleged Peshawar gang rape case killed in attack by unidentified gunmen The FIR further alleged that the victim was given a drink containing an intoxicating substance at the apartment and then gang raped by three men. The suspects allegedly sexually assaulted her throughout the night before leaving her near the airport and fleeing, according to the FIR. They also allegedly took an iPhone and another expensive mobile phone belonging to the victim, it said. Police subsequently launched an investigation and began searching for the suspects. They recovered a vehicle allegedly used in the incident and transferred it to Defence C police station. Investigators used the vehicle as part of their efforts to trace the main suspects. According to police, a team headed by Superintendent of Police Iftikhar conducted raids to arrest those wanted in the case. Police said the victim underwent a medical examination following the alleged assault and maintained that further facts were expected to emerge from the medical report.