LAHORE: Two weeks after a young Azerbaijani woman told Lahore police she had been drugged and gang-raped in a Defence flat, the case has reached an uneasy stage. Two of the men she accuses are in custody. The third is still free. And the complainant herself is no longer in Pakistan.
On Friday a judicial magistrate extended the physical remand of the two prime suspects by four days. The investigating officer told the court that a substantial part of the inquiry was complete but that police had yet to recover the suspects’ mobile phones.
Two women are accused of facilitating the assault. One was sent to jail on judicial remand until October 17. The other holds interim pre-arrest bail, which a sessions court extended on Monday until October 13 after police said they needed more time.
The third man named by the complainant has not been found. Police have asked federal authorities to place the principal suspects on the Provisional National Identification List to stop them leaving the country, saying they fled Lahore soon after the alleged attack.
The woman’s account, given to police and repeated on oath before a magistrate, is this. She came to Pakistan on business and met two women she knew. She went with one to a café at about 11pm and then to a house in Bahria Town. At around 2am a white car arrived with two men. She says money changed hands between one of the women and one of the men, described as being for a party, and that she made clear she wanted neither money nor alcohol.
She alleges she was then taken to a rented flat in a private housing society, made to drink, and raped by three men. Her handbag, containing Rs200,000 and two mobile phones, was taken. Passers-by found her afterwards and called the police helpline. The first information report was registered at Defence C police station on September 26.
Police say the medical examination supports her allegation. Swabs from her and from the suspects have been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, and the results are awaited. Deputy Inspector General Investigation Syed Zeeshan Raza has said the arrested men confessed during questioning and that the suspects had threatened her, claiming influential connections, to keep her from going to the police.
That claim of confession should be read with care. Under Pakistan’s evidence law, a confession made to a police officer cannot be used to prove guilt in court. The case will rest on the forensic report, the phones, the complainant’s sworn statement and whatever witnesses can add.
Which is why her absence matters. On October 3 she was taken to Lahore airport and refused to board. In a video that circulated afterwards she said she was not being allowed to defend herself or to arrange a lawyer, according to source. Neither police nor the Airport Security Force confirmed that she was being forced to leave.
A day later she flew to Baku. Three police officers travelled with her at the request of the Azerbaijani embassy, police sources told Daily Pakistan, which described the departure as a deportation. No official has used that word on the record, and police have said only that they remained in contact with her embassy and completed the legal formalities.
So the central questions about her departure are unanswered. Did she consent to leave? On whose decision did she go? And how will she take part in a trial in Lahore from Baku?
The law offers an answer to the last. The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act of 2021 allows a survivor’s evidence to be recorded by video link and the trial to be held in private, and her statement before the magistrate is already on record. Whether those provisions are used will show how seriously the prosecution is pursued.
The record of such cases is poor. Punjab registered 4,641 rape cases in 2024 with a conviction rate of 0.4 percent, according to the Sustainable Social Development Organisation. Only last month the Lahore High Court acquitted two men serving life terms because DNA evidence was missing.
This is also the second case of its kind in the same police jurisdiction in four months. In June, two women from the Netherlands and Venezuela reported being abducted and sexually assaulted in the Defence C area. Suspects were arrested then as well. No verdict has been reported.
Azerbaijan’s government has made no public statement, and its embassy’s role is known only through police sources. No Pakistani or international human rights organisation has commented publicly on the handling of the complainant’s departure. That silence is itself notable in a case involving a foreign national and two friendly states.
For now the dates are these. The pre-arrest bail of one accused comes up on October 13. The remand of the two men expires early next week. The woman in jail returns to court on October 17. The forensic report has no date at all.
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