Public outcry over gang rape case in Pakistan

Islamabad, Sep 13 (efe-epa).- A wave of public indignation has erupted in Pakistan after a woman was allegedly gang raped in front of her two children when the car she was traveling ran out of gas in the middle of a highway at night.

Rights groups are calling for more protection for women in the Asian country.

On Sunday police said one of the two suspects had surrendered themselves to the police but denies involvement in the alleged crime.

“He presented himself before Model Town police station. He recorded his statement to police. He denied any involvement in the incidents. He also said the mobile number which police traced is not under his use. The police have taken his DNA sample and it will confirm his involvement,” Fayyazul Hassan, a Punjab government spokesman, told Efe.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night on the Lahore-Sheikhupura highway in Punjab. The aggressors took advantage of the situation to break into the car, forcibly remove the woman, rape her and rob her.

It sparked an immediate wave of anger in Pakistan which was worsened when Lahore police chief Umer Sheikh condemned the incident but in a TV interview asked how the woman’s family could have let her out at night .

“No one in our society would allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late,” Sheikh said, according to the local Express Tribune newspaper.

The Punjab government on Thursday created a commission to investigate the case the following day it decided to carry out DNA testing, which they were able to identify two suspects living in the region.

As the hunt for the assailants continues, hundreds of protesters, mainly women, came out to demonstrate across Pakistan on Sunday.

Underpinning the protests was a petition to guarantee the justice in cases of sexual assault and rape with effective and quick judicial processes.