The statement of a 22-year-old Azerbaijani tourist, who told a Lahore court that she was confined, threatened, and sexually assaulted by three men before being allegedly pushed from a moving car, surfaced on Tuesday.
A few days earlier, police apprehended three men and confiscated the vehicle allegedly used during the crime. The developments came in the backdrop of a case registered on the complaint of the Azeri woman under Section 375A (Gang Rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code against three suspects at Defence C police station in Lahore. The young woman subjected to assault said she came to the city on a business trip where she was lured, intoxicated and raped by three unidentified men in a private housing society near Raiwind during the night between September 25 and 26.
She recorded her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before a judicial magistrate on Monday, naming Muhammad Ahmed Tanvir, Syed Mohsin Shah and Syed Ali Zain as the men she alleged had sexually assaulted her.
Azeri woman told the court that she arrived in Pakistan on September 13 and spent five days in Faisalabad before travelling to Lahore. She said she had planned to visit Skardu but was travelling alone, so she contacted two women, Nimra and Muskan, to meet her in Lahore.
According to her statement, she went alone to a cafe at about 11pm, where Muskan met her, adding that she invited Muskan to eat and have coffee, but Muskan told her that their friend Nimra was waiting for them.
She said she then accompanied Muskan to Bahria Town. At about 2am, a white car arrived carrying two men whom she identified as Ahmed and Mohsin.
Read: Foreign woman records statement before Lahore magistrate in alleged gang-rape case
Azeri woman said they went to an apartment, where they ate. Two other men later arrived, one of whom she identified as Ali Zain. She said she did not know the identity of the fourth man.
She told the court that Nimra and Mohsin went into a separate room to talk, while Muskan later joined them. She alleged that Nimra took between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000 from Mohsin, saying the money was for a party.
“I told them I did not need money or alcohol,” She said. She alleged that Mohsin then tried to touch her and confined her to a separate room.
When she asked where Nimra and Muskan were, she said she was told they had already left.
She said she asked to leave but was allegedly told that she could not because her friend had taken money from them. She said she offered to pay them Rs30,000 herself so that she could leave.
According to her statement, Ali Zain then threatened and blackmailed her, while the men told her she would have to drink alcohol with them before she could leave. She alleged that Mohsin, Ahmed and Ali Zain subsequently sexually assaulted her.
The statement said she was later placed in a car, with Mohsin driving, Ahmed in the front passenger seat and Ali Zain sitting beside her.
She told the court that her bag contained Rs200,000, an iPhone 13 Pro Max and a Redmi mobile phone. She alleged that the men refused to return the bag despite her repeated requests.
Read more: Lahore police identify suspects in alleged gang rape of Azerbaijani woman
She said they later offered to return it on the condition that she did not report the incident to police, adding that said she initially told them she would return home but later said she would inform police.
According to her statement, the men told her to complain to police first and that they would then see what happened to her. She alleged that Ahmed and Ali Zain subsequently opened the car door and pushed her out.
The statement said she called on people at the location to contact police on the emergency number 15. According to her statement, people at the scene helped her and police later arrived.
The case record showed that she had previously named the three men in her statement under Section 161 CrPC. The investigating officer told the court that the suspects had not been traced so far.
The magistrate recorded that the Azeri woman had been informed that she was not legally required to give a statement under Section 164 and that anything she said could be used as evidence against her. She told the court that she understood why she had been brought before it and insisted that she wanted to record her statement.
The magistrate said he was satisfied that she was giving the statement voluntarily and without influence or inducement.
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Her statement was recorded separately and also filmed on a mobile phone before being transferred to a USB device. The court ordered that the statement and USB be sealed and sent to the relevant court.
The Express Tribune learnt on Monday that the police have also asked federal authorities to place all three suspects on the Provisional National Identification List after they reportedly left Lahore following the incident.
The police said one of the suspects had been traced to Sialkot. Police have also detained two close relatives and a domestic worker of another suspect as part of the investigation.
The incident is the second gang rape case reported involving foreign women within the jurisdiction of Defence-C police station in the past few months. Earlier in June, two foreign women, nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, were allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in the same area.
According to the FIR in that case, five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, allegedly abducted the two women, demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault in captivity.
The case
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the victim had arrived in Lahore a few days before the alleged incident.
The report said two unidentified women had lured her to a cafe, where three male friends of the women were already present. After spending some time at the cafe, the group allegedly took the Azeri woman to an apartment.
The FIR further alleged that the victim was given a drink containing an intoxicating substance at the apartment and then gang raped by three men.
The suspects allegedly sexually assaulted her throughout the night before leaving her near the airport and fleeing, according to the FIR. They also allegedly took an iPhone and another expensive mobile phone belonging to the victim, it said.
Police subsequently launched an investigation and began searching for the suspects.
They recovered a vehicle allegedly used in the incident and transferred it to Defence C police station. Investigators used the vehicle as part of their efforts to trace the main suspects.
According to police, a team headed by Superintendent of Police Iftikhar conducted raids to arrest those wanted in the case.
Police said the victim underwent a medical examination following the alleged assault and maintained that further facts were expected to emerge from the medical report.
