The state attorney for Punjab informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday that the students who were accusing a college student in Lahore of being raped “had no evidence” to back up their claims.
Following the widespread dissemination of accusations on social media last week regarding the purported rape of a private college student, the police detained a college security guard who was apparently engaged in the event.
Outraged by the reported occurrence, students in Lahore held protests outside of various colleges over the past few days, organizing themselves on social media and inflicting at least 28 injuries on Monday. As more than 380 protestors were detained by the police in relation to the claimed incident in Rawalpindi, protests also expanded to other regions of Punjab.
Maryam Nawaz, the chief minister of Punjab, said that the claimed rape was “fabricated news” and blamed the PTI for disseminating the “fake reports” on social media. Agha Tahir, group director of Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC), along with other officials, have referred to the occurrence as “baseless.”
The Punjab government has implemented Section 144 throughout the province, making public gatherings illegal for two days in response to the potential PTI agitation and today’s student protest.
A legal provision known as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives district administrations the authority to temporarily ban gatherings of four or more individuals in one location. It is typically enforced to keep the peace, stop any actions that could turn violent, and prevent further disturbances.
Punjab’s educational institutions, both public and private, would be closed today as well.
The appeal against the alleged harassment of female students in Punjab’s educational institutions was filed earlier this week, and LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum has resumed hearing it.
Punjab’s Advocate General Khalid Ishaq and Inspector General of Police (IG) Dr. Usman Anwar appeared in court today after being summoned by the LHC.
Ishaq told the court, “Every student is saying that the assault took place but no one had any evidence.”
Judge Neelum chastised the Punjab IG during the hearing, claiming that it was his “failure” that the students had come to the streets since he was unable to stop films on various topics from becoming viral.
The chief judge of the LHC subsequently determined that the student harassment case and the continuing case involving Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari’s fabricated films would be combined and heard by the entire bench on October 22.
Separately, yesterday saw province-wide raids by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing in an effort to apprehend a number of prominent journalists, attorneys, and TikTokers. Three of them were taken into custody for allegedly disseminating false information about the incident on social media.
The report of Punjab College for Women (Gulberg) Principal Sadia Yousuf prompted the FIA (Lahore) cybercrime wing to investigate, which led to the registration of the case.
The hearing
Justice Neelum questioned IG Anwar at the beginning of the hearing, asking, “Why were the recordings not stopped from going viral [on social media]? Have you contacted any authorities to prevent the films from being shared?
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was contacted by the Punjab police head in response. After that, the chief justice said, “You wake up when the fire has been set alight when everything has been burned,” pointing out that the films became viral on October 13 and 14.
She questioned, “Did you contact the relevant authorities very late?” The Punjab IG responded, stating that around 700 accounts were involved in the video distribution. The police “only have one agency to oversee cybercrime,” he emphasized.
Judge Neelum said, “IG sahib, this is your failure that you let the children take to the streets.”
She pointed out that some of the films were still available on the X and TikTok platforms, so she asked the head of police in Punjab to provide an explanation of what the police did on October 14 and 15.
The Chief Justice noted, “The documents you have submitted [show] you did nothing for two days and started work on October 16.” “Every task is completed if there is a will.”
The Punjab Inspector General defended himself by stating that the police lacked the authority to prevent the data from being uploaded and that it was “not easy to stop the data from being uploaded.”
IG Anwar bemoaned, “If we stop it from one account, it is reposted from another.”
“If something [unfortunate] had happened to the girls who took to the streets, who would have been responsible?” the chief judge of Punjab questioned the advocate general in this case.
An Instagram post from October 12 claimed that a female had been raped in a private college, the advocate general told the court. The senior superintendent of police, or SSP, arrived at the campus that day and got to work looking into the matter.
“The first-year students are in charge of their own WhatsApp groups, which are run independently. Everyone in the group saw the Instagram picture, but nobody realized what had transpired,” he continued.
The Punjab Inspector General reported at this juncture that the police had located over seven hundred social media profiles. Justice Neelum instructed him not to use England as an example when he mentioned that even England “did not have the power to stop uploading” information.
IG Anwar emphasized, “We spoke to the interior ministry and wrote them letters,” and added that the PTA has the power to block accounts that shared the footage.
“We had begun operating in accordance with our authority. We found a few accounts, [but] they haven’t been removed yet,” he argued.
The police head retorted, “Of course, we had the intention,” to Justice Neelum’s repeated assertion that all work could be completed provided there was “intention.”
The assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in the region met with the principal of the purported college and examined the CCTV footage, according to the Punjab advocate general.
Ishaq told the court, “Every student is saying that the assault took place but no one had any evidence.” He continued by saying that “everything happened in an organized manner” and that students from other schools also arrived at the college.
The attorney noted that after the demonstrators resorted to “vandalism,” CM Maryam established a special committee to look into the situation.
According to Ishaq, there were “rumors that the alleged rape took place on October 9 or 10,” but no rape victim came forward until Monday.
The advocate general said that on October 2, a girl was treated at the Lahore General Hospital and on October 4, she was transferred to a private hospital. He also mentioned that the girl spent five days in the hospital’s critical care unit.
Someone said they had located the rape victim because the girl was not attending the college. She was associated with the rumor since she was not attending college.
“If you agree, I can set up a meeting for you with this girl,” Ishaq said.
A “man who calls himself a lawyer made a video referring to these girls,” the advocate general subsequently told the court. A magistrate then cleared the individual of all charges, he claimed.
“There is a new practice of acquittal from cases; whoever we arrest becomes a hero the following day,” Ishaq went on.
He went on, “We might not be able to predict what will occur on Sunday.” “We are not saying that it happened systematically, but opportunists took advantage of it when it did happen,” declared the advocate general.
Subsequently, the Chief Justice determined that the present petition along with Bokhari’s case concerning her fabricated videos will be combined and considered by the entire bench.
On Tuesday, October 22, a full bench will hear these matters, according to Justice Neelum. She would sit on the bench alongside Justices Farooq Haider and Ali Zia Bjawa, according to a later court ruling.
She also called the FIA director general in person for the next hearing and gave him instructions to look into the recent instances.
“The matter at hand needs to be treated with care and attention because it involves female college and university students, is sensitive, and touches on the social issue of distributing false information. This court’s first priority is ensuring the safety of female students. The judgment said that the investigative agencies must use contemporary methods to conclude their investigation without subjecting anyone to undue harassment.
It further stated: “Students should not be coerced into making a statement against their will, and if the FIA team needs to record or gather student statements, it should do so in front of the registrar, vice-chancellor, and her/their parents. Anyone can also appear before the authorities or FIA if they are aware of the facts pertaining to the three incidents mentioned above and would like to give a statement. The authorities or FIA are required to record the statement. It is also made very clear that nobody ought to be coerced into saying anything.
The date of the hearing was postponed to October 22.
Findings from the inquiry report
In the meantime, the seven-member inquiry committee of the Punjab government, which was tasked with looking into the matter, turned in its report and said that no such incident had taken place.
The news of the alleged rape was “fabricated and spread via fake social media accounts to create unrest and provoke a law-and-order situation,” according to the committee report, which is accessible on Dawn.com.
According to the investigation, “false information, misleading innocent students into protests,” was disseminated through social media profiles.
“Malicious actors with vested interests who exploited the situation to advance political agendas” were mentioned in the report as being involved.
The disturbance brought on by the “spread of disinformation” and the “manipulation of students” were concerns raised by the committee.
The investigation noted that the “fabricated news tarnished their reputation and caused immense trauma,” emphasizing the “psychological and social damage” imposed on the claimed victim and her family.
The committee suggested that in order to lessen the impacted family’s pain, the government should offer them the necessary help.
The report faulted the college administration for not managing the crisis more professionally, pointing out that there were insufficient procedures and processes in place to deal with situations like this.
The police were praised by the committee for their “quick action in securing evidence and investigating the false news.” On the other hand, it recommended that the police create standard operating procedures (SOPs) to deal with such cases in schools going forward.
A trend of “targeted disinformation aimed at destabilising public order” was noted by the committee. It suggested that in order to combat the exploitation of social media platforms and bring legal action against individuals who disseminate false information, the Punjab government implement strict legislative measures.
The government was encouraged in the study to create a framework to “fight disinformation, educate students about the dangers of fake news,” and increase law enforcement’s ability to handle similar circumstances without using force. It also demanded more research be done on terrorism and hate speech on the internet.
