Lahore police were already struggling with the fallout from the alleged abduction, extortion and sexual assault of two foreign women when another case exposed an even darker institutional failure. According to the latest allegation emerging from Ghaziabad, an assistant sub-inspector stands accused of raping a mentally impaired young woman inside the police station, prompting the suspension of more than 70 officers and other personnel.
The case has been registered under the rape provision of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 155-C of the Police Order, which deals with misconduct by police officers. The location of the alleged offence, nevertheless, gives the case an institutional dimension that cannot be contained within the conduct of one accused officer. After all, a police station is not an unmonitored alley. It has gates, duty officers, cameras and a chain of command. The question is not merely how a woman was allegedly assaulted there, but how she was taken through the station, brought upstairs and left alone with a male officer without anyone demanding an explanation. Lahore’s DIG Operations has asked why no one questioned the ASI for bringing a woman into the station when no female police personnel were present. That is the right starting point, but it cannot be the end of the inquiry.
Mass suspension was a defensible first step yet not a verdict. Ergo, individual responsibility must now be established through CCTV footage and witness statements.
The case lands in a country near the bottom of every measure of women’s security and inclusion. Pakistan was ranked 169th among 181 countries in the 2025-26 Women, Peace and Security Index, and only 41 per cent of women surveyed said they felt safe walking alone at night. The World Economic Forum similarly placed Pakistan last among 148 economies in its 2025 gender-gap ranking.
Public institutions also determine whether participation is possible. A police station that cannot guarantee a woman’s safety does not merely fail her as a complainant. Rather, it also narrows the space available to all women as citizens.
The recorded scale of violence is already overwhelming. Sustainable Social Development Organisation documented 32,617 reported gender-based violence cases in 2024, including 5,339 rape cases. The reported national conviction rate for rape was just 0.5 per cent. Punjab’s answer has included the Virtual Women Police Station, which reportedly receives an average of 2,200 calls a day and has increased the number of complaints progressing to FIRs. Its popularity may be evidence of innovation, but it is also evidence of fear.
Punjab has invested heavily in surveillance systems, specialist units, digital platforms and model stations. The most important test of policing, however, remains stubbornly basic: whether a vulnerable citizen is safer after entering a police building than she was outside it.
