Pakistan: Police constable rapes female colleague & posts videos online; arrested

Amid instances of crime against women making headlines in Pakistan, a sexual assault incident has emerged, where a female police constable was raped by her male colleague. 

The incident happened on June 24 in Hala town, close to Matiari, as reported by Dawn. The victim alleged that the accused summoned her to the official police residence under the guise of working on a police investigation involving a certain suspect. 

"He gave her a cup of tea combined with some sedative substance, which made her fall asleep and then raped her," according to the publication, who quoted the victim. 

Moreover, the accused recorded a videos of the incident, which he later used to blackmail the victim and also spread it on social media.

On Friday, Hala Police arrested the alleged rapist, constable Yousuf Bilal after the victim filed an FIR against him under Sections 336, 337, 356b, 506 PPC.

According to Hyderabad range DIGP Syed Pir Mohammad Shah, women police officers have been appointed as duty officers at several police stations across the province for the first time in the history of Sindh police, on the directives of Sindh IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon. However, such tragic incidents will only serve to discourage them, the officer said. He added that the alleged rapist would be punished in accordance with the law, and speedy justice would be served to the victim.

Sexual assault cases in Pakistan

In a recent incident, five men in the Punjab province gang-raped a pregnant woman. Another incident of this kind had three men gang-raping a 25-year-old Karachi lady on a train. Such occurrences draw attention to Pakistan's poor history of protecting women's rights.

In fact, according to a recent study by the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and the Centre for Research, Development, and Communication (CRDC), Pakistan had the most instances of women being abused in the previous month. It included incidents of rape, violence against women, and kidnapping of women.

As per the report, a total of 57 cases of rape were reported in the media out of which Punjab reported the highest of 38 cases, while Sindh reported 13 cases, followed by 3 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 2 cases from Islamabad.