Once again, the distressing motorway rape case has resurfaced in the news, as the survivor of the incident has bravely come forward to recount her harrowing experience upon seeing a depiction of her story in the upcoming drama series Hadsa.
The incident, which took place in September 2020, involved the brutal gang rape of a woman in the presence of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway. This deeply disturbing event sent shockwaves throughout the country and left a lasting impact.
Actor Hadiqa Kiani denied the rumours that her ongoing drama Hadsa is about the tragic incident of motorway rape case of 2020.
Renowned journalist Fereeha M Idrees wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Hadsa is about the woman who was gang-raped on Lahore-Sialkot Motorway in front of her children.
A French woman of Pakistani-origin was gang-raped in front of her three children on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway in September 2020.
The journalist said that she received a call from the victim after the drama went on screen and she is in trauma since then.
When the phone rang, I never expected this to be Z’s call. Z was the person whom I had spoken to a couple of years ago post her traumatic experience on motorway. Those were tumultuous times when everyone’s attention was focused on Z, while she was grappling to keep her sanity…
— Fereeha M Idrees (@Fereeha) August 27, 2023
The actor said that it is not about the incident as she first asked about the script before doing the project.
“Hadsa follows the life of Taskeen (Kiani), a headstrong and opinionated woman who leads a happy and successful life with her loving husband and children. The wedding preparations for her eldest son’s marriage are underway however, a sudden and horrific incident shatters Taskeen’s world, leaving her grappling with its aftermath,” says the story.
“To know that something I have been a part of is being used to hurt and trigger a survivor is something I cannot stand for,” Kiani wrote on her social media.
“When I was asked to do the role of Taskeen for Hadsa my first question was ‘Is this related to the motorway incident?’ ‘Is this the project if it was based off of anyone’s story’. The team behind the project explicitly told me ‘No.’
After many conversations with the team and only after reading the script I understood that Hadsa was not related to or based off of the 2020 motorway story,” said the actor.
“Hadsa is not based on any one person’s story, it is based off of a sickly common part of our reality.”
She addressed the traumatising aspect of showing rape and sexual violence on screen but said “episodes should air with trigger warnings, with a caution for all those who have been exposed to such evils.”
