Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday ordered a crackdown on those spreading fake news that a girl had been allegedly raped at a private college in Lahore.
Since the beginning of the week, students have staged protests in multiple cities of the country’s largest province, demanding that alleged culprits of the claimed crime be brought to justice.
While the protests caused injuries to students and police alike, the authorities had firmly stated that no girl had been raped, while the girl’s family had also ruled out the sexual assault.
During a press conference, the provincial chief executive said that a crackdown should be launched “regardless of whether they belong to the PTI or Chaudhry Pervez Elahi’s Q-League”.
She also blamed the former ruling party for spreading fake news and spreading anarchy to damage the state, especially at a time when the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was underway.
“I call them a terrorist organisation for no reason. Who will compensate for the loss that the child and her family suffered as a result of her name being used to spark unrest,” she said, slamming the Imran Khan-founded PTI.
A high-level committee, formed by the Punjab government, has also stated in its report that the girl had not been raped and that she sustained injuries at her home.
The police registered a first information report (FIR) at the Defence A Police Station against the spread of misinformation and unverified news on social media.
CM Maryam added that the incident was reported on October 10, but the girl was not present at her college on the said day.
“…it was claimed that the CCTV footage of the incident had been deleted. First, a false story was created and then a search was started for the victim. There were no eyewitnesses as the incident did not happen.”
