18-Year-Old Pakistani Woman Gang-Raped in Car On Motorway

Last year, the gang-rape of a French-Pakistani woman in front of her children on a motorway prompted nationwide protests across Pakistan. The accused were sentenced to death.

An 18-year-old woman was gang-raped on the M-4 motorway in Gojra city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. According to local media reports, the prime suspect was arrested by police officials on Thursday.

The rape victim met the accused, Hamid, when he contacted her, posing as a potential employer.

On Monday, the woman went to Gojra along with another woman for a job interview and they were received by three people - two men Hamid and Rehman, and one woman Laiba. Mahver Khan, district police officer of Toba Tek Singh, was quoted by Samaa TV as saying that the woman would have been present to lend reassurance to the victim.

According to reports, the accused asked the victim and her friend to tag along with them in a car to Faisalabad where "the interview" was scheduled.

“On the way, the accused raped her in the car … and fled after leaving her on the Kamal Pura Interchange,” Mahvar said.

The victim and her friend returned to Gojra and filed a police complaint on Tuesday. According to officials, the victim’s medical examination has been conducted and samples sent to the forensic laboratory in Lahore.

Meanwhile, Punjab Province's chief, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has taken an interest in the matter and has asked the investigating officers in Faisalabad to send him a report.

The incident was reminiscent of last year’s pmotorway gang rape case which led to massive protests across the country. A Pakistani-French woman was raped by two men in front of her two children. The perpetrators broke into their car, which had run out of petrol, robbed them and raped the woman. Later, a Pakistan court sentenced the perpetrators to death.