Lahore police has registered eight cases of sexual assault against different suspects who used coercion, blackmail, and the promise of a well-paid job to assault victims, including a staff nurse, a housemaid, and a teenage girl.
Survivors and their families report that the suspects have been pressuring them into withdrawing complaints. Punjab has been a difficult province for working women due to high rates of sexual violence and harassment in the workplace.
In one incident reported in the Factory Area police limits, a man repeatedly assaulted a staff nurse at a private hospital and blackmailed her for money. The suspect lured the nurse six months ago by offering her a high salary and took her to a house in the Ghazi Road area under the pretext of ‘taking care of a patient’.
Similarly, a woman was allegedly assaulted by a suspect who made videos of the act and threatened to upload them on social media if she reported the matter to the police. A married housemaid was also allegedly assaulted by a suspect who lured her to a house for a ‘job’ with an attractive salary package and assaulted her, making a video of the act and then blackmailing her for money.
A 14-year-old girl from Muzaffargarh was kidnapped and allegedly assaulted by a suspect in the Quaid-e-Azam Industrial area. A woman was gang-raped in South Cantonment police limits, and another woman was allegedly assaulted in the Green Town area by a suspect.