Two men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a suspected sexual assault of a 15-year-old Sikh girl inside an ambulance in Pakistan's Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported on Monday.
The girl, said to be mentally unstable, had gone missing on Saturday from a Gurdwara in Nankana Sahib city, some 80 km from Lahore, police said.
When she did not return, her family informed the police. The family looked for her everywhere but could not trace her. The girl's father said they spotted an ambulance of the Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 parked at Nankana bypass.
On peeping inside, the family found that two men, identified as Ahsan Ali and Sameen Haider, were sexually assaulting their daughter, the Express Tribune reported.
“We heard a girl screaming inside the ambulance. We rushed to the vehicle and found two men were assaulting our girl,” he said, adding that the culprits fled and threw the girl out of the vehicle some two km away.
The family rushed her to a hospital where her condition was stated to be stable.
Nankana city police official Nadim Ahmed told that an FIR has been lodged against Ahsan Ali and Sameen Haider, both government employees of the Rescue 1122 emergency service. They have been arrested.
“The victim has also undergone a medico-legal test and its report is awaiting,” he said.
According to the medico-legal examination report, no tears, bruises or laceration were found in the examination of the victims body. However, the girl will be taken to Lahore today for further tests.
The results of the tests will arrive in a minimum time frame of two months, said Investigative Officer Basharat Ali, adding that the suspects would be kept in custody on physical remand for further investigation.
Rescue 1122 spokesman Muhammad Farooq said the department has formed a separate inquiry committee to investigate the matter after placing the accused under suspension.
This was the first such incident in the 14-year history of the Rescue 1122 as both the suspects violated their oath, he said.
The department is fully cooperating with the police to ensure dispensation of justice in the case, he added.
District Emergency Officer Akram Panwaar told the daily that a high-level committee had been set up to investigate the incident. "Once the crime is proven, strong departmental action will be taken against the rescue workers."
