The gang-rape of a woman in front of her children after her car broke down on a motorway has prompted outrage and protests in Pakistan, with anger further fuelled by police, who appeared to blame the victim for travelling alone. Fifteen people have been arrested in connection with the gang-rape, which happened at about 1.30am by the side of a motorway in Lahore. Disgust around the case increased when Umar Sheikh, the lead police investigator, told media that the woman should have known better than to travel alone at night. Photograph: Aamir Qureshi/AFPThe victim is a resident of France, and Sheikh said she “mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe”. The attack came just days after the kidnapping, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Karachi.

Source: The Guardian September 11, 2020 12:22 UTC