Pakistan: Friday, the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stated that it was unable to locate “credible evidence” regarding the alleged rape of a student at a private college in Lahore that sparked widespread student protests in October.
A security guard at the private college who was allegedly involved in the incident was arrested by the police after reports about the alleged rape of a student went viral on social media last month.
Students mobilized on social media in response to the alleged incident and staged protests outside various colleges in Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
“Not possible to conclusively establish the veracity of widespread allegations that a student was sexually assaulted at a private college in Lahore earlier in October 2024,” HRCP stated in a report.
The report stated that “a chain of events appears to have created acute suspicion and mistrust among students at Punjab College Campus 10” regarding the allegations. These events include a flurry of social media posts with contradictory statements from government officials and unverified claims of rape.
In addition, the mission “strongly condemned the use of disproportionate force against hundreds of students at Campus 10 on 14 October, who had launched a mass protest demanding ‘justice’ for the alleged victim of rape but were subjected to police violence,” according to the mission statement.
However, it warned that other parties were attempting to “hijack the students’ narrative and use it to amplify their own outreach on social media,” and that there was evidence of this.
The statement continued, “The mission observes that students’ response underlines their serious dissatisfaction with the state of security on campuses and perceived frequency of sexual harassment and victim blaming.” It added that the situation was exacerbated by the college administration’s lack of motivation to address the issue and the students’ “deep mistrust” of the police.
The report said that “damage wrought by pervasive misinformation is grounds for strong, regular public campaigns on digital literacy and fact-checking,” but it also said that the students’ frustration should not be discounted due to the apparent role of misinformation.
The report recommended, among other things, that the CCTV footage of Campus 10 in Lahore during the first two weeks of October be thoroughly investigated.
“Holding the police accountable for violence against student protesters and detaining a person accused of the alleged offence in the absence of an FIR against him” was another recommendation.
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