The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Cyber Crime Wing on Tuesday formed a committee on the complaint of the Punjab Colleges group to probe “social media disinformation” over the alleged rape of a student, as the alleged victim’s family and college maintain ongoing protests are motivated by fake news.
Punjab College students launched protests in Lahore on Monday over social media posts alleging a female student was raped at a campus in Gulberg. They accused the college of trying to suppress the incident and demand justice from the government. Monday’s protest triggered police action, as the charged students broke into the school, leaving several students injured.
However, as the protests expanded to other campuses across Punjab, the provincial government announced an official inquiry had failed to locate any victim and declared the purported incident fake. It then announced it was requesting relevant authorities to file a case on the complaint of the alleged victim’s family, who have repeatedly denied any incident. The official inquiry blamed disinformation on social media, particularly TikTok and Facebook, for the protests, stressing there was no evidence of any incident occurring at the college.
According to the inquiry, the alleged girl told the investigators she was not raped, adding she had gotten injured at home and was not attending school while she recuperated. Her family has similarly lamented that she is being stigmatized and demanded action against anyone disseminating information about her.
A seven-member team of the FIA has been tasked with identifying individuals involved in spreading any such disinformation, with the Punjab government seeking a progress report within two days. Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari has pointed to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleging the party is trying to malign the college and the girl in a bid to incite mob violence. Some of the protests saw students pelting stones at police and burning public and private property.
The alleged incident has attracted significant attention nationwide, with lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly also demanding action.