LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday declared that the incident of alleged rape of a private college student was “fabricated news”, as police launched a crackdown on individuals involved in spreading misinformation.

Violent protests erup­ted in the province on Monday after social media reports claimed that a student was allegedly raped at a girls’ college in Gulberg last week. A number of students were injured due to clashes with the security guards of the college and police two days ago.

Addressing a press conference, the CM said the investigation revealed that the protesters were trying to make an issue about something that did not exist. “No student was raped on the campus and the social media users and vloggers used a name and picture of a girl as a rape survivor who was admitted to hospital after suffering injuries at her home,” she said.

She said that a malicious campaign was launched against the girl and she was made a victim of dirty politics. “I met the mother of the girl who was worried about the future of her five daughters as their relatives had started questioning them about the rape with their daughter,” she said.

The CM said that a crackdown was launched against the people who spread fake news.

She said that journalists and social media had incited the students and disrespected the girl and her family. Investigations were underway to trace their accounts and they would be arrested.

She called the PTI a ‘terrorist organisation’, claiming that they were involved in spreading fake news and wanted to create anarchy in the country at the time when the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was underway.

She questioned who would compensate for the loss that the child and her family suffered as a result of her name being used to spark unrest. “If a rape had happened, I would have acted before anyone said anything,” she said.

The CM said that they were still looking for the victim but no one appea­red, and the girl whose name was being taken as an alleged rape survivor had been undergoing treatment in the hospital since October 2 and the accused guard was on vacation.

She said that the alleged incident was reported on Oct 10 and the said girl was not present at college on that day. She said a false story was run that the CCTV footage of the college was deleted, adding she also had viewed the footage and all the allegations were fake.

The CM said that she had told the education minister that he should not suspend the registration of the college.

A college student was also sitting with the CM in the press conference. The girl had recorded a video that she was witness to the rape incident and also knew the girl who was allegedly raped in the basement of the college by a security guard and driver.

The CM said that the girl was not even from the campus where the alleged incident occurred and her clip aired on social media was edited and she was being termed an eyewitness.

The girl, while talking to the media in the press conference, said that she was not an eyewitness and she also did not belong to the college. “I recorded the video as some students told me that they heard the screams of the girl,” she said.

Speaking about the girl who was presented as a rape survivor, the Punjab CM said the student was the victim of a sinister propaganda campaign as she was “chaste (‘Paak and Saaf’) and false allegations had been made against her. The CM said she was saying this on behalf of that girl’s family to clear their name.

‘Baseless campaign’

Meanwhile, the Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) group Director Agha Tahir, Lahore Director Arif Chaudhry, Principal Saadia Javed, and others jointly held a press conference.

They termed the rape incident ‘baseless’.

Mr Tahir said that they were treating students like their family members and wanted to resume educational activities as per routine.

The college principal said a message was posted on Instagram on Saturday night regarding the alleged rape of a girl. The Instagram message mentioned that there were doors in the parking lot where the incident took place. The police saw this post on social media and came to investigate the incident and also reviewed the CCTV footage.

She said that a couple of students were posting the story on social media and she contacted them to tell her the girl’s name and her address so that the college administration could contact her.

She said that no one from the students could tell her a name and were saying that they heard from somewhere.

She said that now the investigation was completed and they were vindicated and it was proved that it was a false campaign against them on social media.

Mr Chaudhry said that there were some girls whose interviews had been viral. “They do not study in our institution.”

He said he had seen those videos on social media. “There are eight to 10 girls on social media whose interviews are viral. The girls in the videos are not from this campus,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024