Tag: Gender-based violence

  • New report reveals surge in gender-based violence cases, low conviction rates

    New report reveals surge in gender-based violence cases, low conviction rates

    A report released by the Law and Justice Com­m­ission of Pakistan (LJCP) reveals an increase in gender-based violence across Pakistan.

    The report also notes an increase in pending gender violence cases in the courts.

    The number of pending gender violence cases rose from 21,891 to 39,665 in 2023.

    In Punjab, the number of pending gender violence cases increased by 100 percent, while Sindh saw a three percent increase, KP experienced a 14 percent rise, Balochistan had a two percent increase, and Islamabad saw a one percent rise.

    Most cases of gender-based violence involve sexual assault, and pending cases also include kidnapping, human trafficking, and murder of women.

    Crimes committed using electronic means related to gender cases have also increased, while economically motivated crimes have decreased.

    According to the report, the conviction rate for those involved in gender crimes is only five percent, and the acquittal rate for accused individuals in gender crimes is 64 percent.

    Additionally, 480 special courts were established in 2019 to address gender-based crimes across the country.

  • Man given 29 years in jail for sexually assaulting minor girl

    Man given 29 years in jail for sexually assaulting minor girl

    Life imprisonment and 14- years jail time were handed down to a prisoner in a case pertaining to sexually assaulting a minor girl by a special court for gender-based violence in Lahore.

    On the complaint of the minor’s father, Sanda police had registered the FIR in 2021 against Imran, the brother-in-law of the complainant’s elder daughter who took his 5-year-old daughter to a shrine and sexually assaulted her there.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge Kaneez Fatima Bhatti, the presiding judge of the special court, handed down rigorous life imprisonment to the accused for rape under section 376 (iii) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), besides Rs50,000 fine.

    Section 376 (iii) of the PPC states, “Whoever commits rape of a minor or a person with mental or physical disability shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and fine.”

    The judge also awarded a 14-year jail term for another offense of sexual abuse (in the same case) under section 377-B of the PPC and imposed a fine of Rs1 million.

    Section 377-B of the PPC states, “Whoever commits the offence of sexual abuse shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and liable to fine which shall not be less than five hundred thousand rupees or with both.”

    Imran, who was on bail, was present in the court when the judge announced the guilty verdict. The judge got him arrested and ordered the police to shift him to Kot Lakhpat jail.

  • 12 women raped daily on average: report

    12 women raped daily on average: report

    According to The News, War Against Rape (WAR), an advocacy organisation, published a report based on data taken from Punjab Home Department and Ministry of Human Rights which reveals that 21,900 women were raped in the province between 2017 and 2021. This indicates that an average of 12 women were raped daily or one woman assaulted every two hours.

    However, as per the organisation, this number is only representative of a small portion as many cases are not reported due to stigma, fear, victim-blaming, and systemic biases in the justice system.

    18 per cent of women are subjected to early and forced marriages. There are about 19 million child brides at the moment. Sindh has legalised marriage for boys and girls at 18 while other provinces have set the age for girls at 16.

    Karachi
    As per the police surgeon’s office in Karachi, there were 3,649 cases of domestic violence reported in 2022.

    WAR team investigated 66 cases of different forms of sexual violence from July 2022 to June 2023.

    The News highlighted statistics from the report: 44 survivors were children under 18 years with the most vulnerable age group being 4-11 years; the average age of survivors was only 13 years, with the youngest survivor being mere four years old; and of these cases, 85 per cent involved women and female children.
    A total of 35 of the 66 cases were of rape, 11 were gang rape cases, another 11 were attempted rapes, and nine involved incest.

    Additionally, in 10 cases, boys were also victims while 12 children were murdered after being subjected to sexual violence, including nine girls and three boys.

    Korangi has been deemed a red alert zone as it has the highest sexual violence cases with 31 per cent, followed closely by Surjani Town with 30 per cent of reported cases.

    The Saeedabad area reported 11 per cent of the cases, Iqbal Market nine per cent, Orangi Town seven per cent, Mehmoodabad six per cent and Gulshan-e-Iqbal reported five per cent of the cases of sexual violence.

    Cases underreported
    The official data from three major public hospitals of Karachi revealed the conduction of 1,256 medico-legal examinations (MLEs) in sexual assault cases from January 2021 to December 2022 whereas only 499 first information reports (FIRs) were filed in this same duration.

    WAR report stated: “This underscores the urgent need for improved mechanisms to encourage survivors to report incidents. In the first six months of 2023, Pakistan witnessed a harrowing increase in child sexual abuse cases, with an average of 12 children sexually abused daily, totalling 2,227 cases. The comparison with 2021-22 data shows a disturbing upward trend in child sexual abuse cases.”

    Workplace harassment
    The News highlights that the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) reveals that more than 2,000 complaints were filed between 2018 and 2022 in the government sector and around 1,400 cases in the private sector, involving both men and women.

    “Due to harassment, a large number of complainants end up leaving their jobs or normalising the harassment and hostile work environment. This discourages women from entering the workforce and restricts them from reaching financial independence”

  • Man murders girlfriend, marries another woman on the same day

    New Delhi police has arrested arrested 24-year-old Sahil Gahlot on February 14 for murdering his longtime girlfriend Nikki Yadav and stuffing her body in a refrigerator inside his restaurant.
    Gahlot had killed the deceased between February 9 and 10, by strangling her with the phone data cable he kept in his car.
    The murderer and Yadav had been in a relationship since 2018. After the covid-19 lockdown, they began living together in Greater Noida in a rented house. However, Gahlot’s parents were not aware of this relationship, and were pressurizing him to marry another woman. Around December 2022, Gahlot got engaged but did not inform Yadav.
    According to the police, Yadav asked Gahlot to come to her flat in Uttam Nagar where she pleaded with him not to get married to the other woman, and threatened to tell the family if he refused to listen to her.
    “She had already planned to go with him to Goa and had booked tickets for February 9. She asked him to accompany her to Goa but he refused. This led to an argument and in anger, he killed her inside his car,” the officer told Deccan Herald.
    Gahlot tied the knot with the other woman on the same day.
    Special Commissioner of Police Ravindra Singh was able to arrest Gahlot when on February 14, they received a secret tip that Sahil Gahlot murdered his girlfriend and married another woman on the same day.
    When the mobile number of the accused was found to be switched off, a police team arrived at Mitraon village, where the accused lived, but he was there. After an intensive search of the village and other areas, Gahlot was arrested at Kair Village in Delhi.
    During interogation, the officer told Deccan Herald that Gahlot had tried to mislead the police, but then later revealed to them that he had murdered Yadav.