LAHORE: Two robbers gang-raped a mother of two on the Motorway late Tuesday night in Gujjarpura police limits.The woman along with two children was traveling to Gujranwala in a car she was driving when she had to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the Motorway after running out of fuel at around 1.30am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130. She was reportedly given no response by the Motorway Police helpline. In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window, and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children.They also snatched her purse carrying Rs100, 000 in cash, one bracelet, car registration and three ATM cards. The Gujjarpura police have registered a case and started investigation. The Motorway police spokesman said the incident did not occur in the limits of Motorway Police."

The horrendous motorway incident has shocked everyone and it’s hard to fathom the pain that the victim had to go through during such a brutal act of barbarism.

While everyone is furious over the incident, the Capital City Police Officer of Lahore, Umar Sheikh who is said to be spearheading by the task force for this gruesome incident, has blamed the victim for not taking precautions by going through an 'unsafe route' instead of taking the blame and promising to catch the absconders.

We believe that this statement reflects upon the very root cause of this problem and also corroborates with a pro-rapist ideology.Thus in order to ensure the impartiality of this investigation we feel that it's pertinent to remove Mr.Umar Shaikh from the task force because an unbiased investigation is the least the victims deserve.

A famous saying goes ‘fear cuts deeper than the sword’. During 1981 in late Gen Zia ul Haq’s tenure  the public hanging of a rapist had effectively worked as a deterrent for the next 10 years or so.   

Recently the government faced a fair amount of backlash,primarily from the opposition after the National Assembly passed the bill for publicly hanging child rapists, some labelling them as an act of 'unconscionable cruelty'.

But seeing that rape cases have grown so rampant in the recent past, public hanging for each and every rape case appears to be the sole solution to address this matter of grave concern and  safeguard human sanctity.

Lastly, we urge our government to amend their policies regarding rape cases and capital punishment.