At least 250 violent protesters were arrested in Rawalpindi as police used tear gas to disperse students demonstrating against the alleged rape of a Lahore student.

Last week, reports related to the alleged rape of a private college student went viral on social media, prompting the police to arrest a security guard at the college who was allegedly involved in the incident.

Enraged by the alleged incident, students mobilised on social media and staged protests outside different colleges in Lahore over the past few days. On Monday, at least 28 were injured due to clashes with the security guards of the college and police.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has declared that the alleged rape was “fabricated news”, blaming the PTI for spreading the “fake reports” on social media. Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) group Director Agha Tahir and other office-holders have termed the incident “baseless”.

Speaking to Dawn.com today, Rawalpindi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operation Hafiz Kamran Asghar said around 150 “violent protesters” had been arrested, adding that the situation was now completely under control.

SSP Asghar said that the police did not want to arrest students, however, if anyone tried to take the law into their hands under the guise of protests, legal action would be taken against them.

“All the angles of the protest are being investigated,” the SSP said, adding that a heavy contingent of police has been deployed on the main roads outside the colleges in different areas of the city.

“All the closed roads have also been opened,” SSP Asghar added.

According to a post on Rawalpindi Police’s X account, police personnel have been deployed at various locations across the city.

“Rawalpindi Police is fully prepared to deal with any law and order situation,” it said.

“Parents are requested to keep their children away from illegal activities, the future of children can be ruined in case of legal action,” the police added.

Separately, students from Barani University in Rawalpindi also protested against the incident within the premises of their campus.

Later in the day, police spokesperson Sajjad Al Hasan said that the arrestees were being interrogated and, according to preliminary reports, the protesters were not part of any student group, adding that 100 more people had been arrested.

The violent protests had already spread to other Punjab cities on Wednesday, where students of public as well as private institutes resorted to ransacking and torching different PGC campuses.

The protests also claimed the life of a college security guard in the Gujrat district, for which at least 185 people were booked in a murder case.

In Lahore, students gathered outside the Punjab College’s Campus 11, where they set fire to the parking area, shattered windows, and damaged doors. More than 450 people were named in cases filed over attacking and damaging PGC campuses in Gujrat’s Lalamusa and Kharian cities.

The Progressive Students’ Collective, a student organisation that held an anti-harassment rally on Tuesday, has said it would continue to expand protests “until and unless the demands of students are met”. The post on X did not specify the demands.

Section 144 imposed as educational institutes shut down

Separately, the Punjab government imposed Section 144 across the province from Friday to Saturday and banned any protests and processions to ward off security threats and prevent disturbance of public peace and order.

The provincial government also shut down all public and private schools, colleges and universities on Friday.

LHC summons Punjab IG, college registrar

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) summoned Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar, Advocate General of Punjab Khalid Ishaq and Lahore College for Women University’s (LCWU) registrar over a similar case.

The development came as the LHC took up a petition against the alleged harassment of female students in Punjab’s educational institutions.

“The Anti-Rape Act does not allow the name of the girl victim to be published […] was the IG Punjab so ill-informed that he let the photos and videos go viral,” said while presiding over a single bench hearing.

“All officers are to appear in court tomorrow with the records,” she ordered.

The petition urged the court to order an investigation into such incidents and direct the Punjab government to protect female students.

38 booked under cybercrime law

Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked 38 individuals under cybercrime laws on the complaint of Sadia Javaid, the principal of Punjab College Campus 10.

In a first information report (FIR) dated Oct 16, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the FIA said that the social media users and profiles mentioned in the complaint were “found involved in propagating/disseminating the false propaganda to defame the complainant’s institute and to incite the general public to get involved in violence”.

Imran Riaz and Shakir Awan among other media personnel were named in the report to have “committed offences” under the cybercrime laws.