RAWALPINDI: Two women were sexually assaulted in separate incidents in the garrison city, police said on Thursday.

       According to the police, a woman, a resident of Saddar Barooni area, lodged an FIR with the police on Thursday, saying that she was waiting for a cab after visiting a shrine on Girja Road on July 10 when a car with three persons on board stopped close to her.

       She alleged that she was dragged inside the car at gunpoint by the occupants who drove to an undisclosed location where four individuals were already present.

       In the FIR, she said she was tortured and raped by the seven persons the whole night. She identified one of the suspects as Waqas while the remaining six were unknown to her.

       Initial police investigation suggested the victim was reluctant to give information about the place of the incident, but they were trying to get her mobile phone data to arrest the culprits. However, none of the suspects has so far been arrested.

       In another case, Mohammad Shakeel, a resident of Girja Road, told Saddar Bairooni police on Thursday that his sister-in-law, 25, was sleeping with her son in her house while her husband was away when two suspects, one of them identified as Mujeeb Hassan, entered the house at 1:30am.

       Quoting the victim, Shakeel said the two took her into a room forcibly, snatched her mobile phone and raped her. She said later the two escaped with her purse containing gold jewellery and identity card.

       She said the rapists threatened to dump her son into a water tank if she revealed anything. Police have registered an FIR and arrested one of the alleged rapists, Mujeeb Hussain, while raids were underway to arrest his accomplice.

       Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2021