A 35-year-old woman and her daughter were raped by a rickshaw driver and his s them accomplice in Lahore; On the Independence Day of Pakistan, a TikTokker was sexually harassed in Lahore; a woman on rickshaw was harassed publicly in Lahore and people were cheering; Noor Mukadam, daughter of a diplomat, was brutally killed in Islamabad; a female schoolteacher was raped by the owner of the school; a minor girl was raped by the principal of a seminary; a woman was gangraped by robbers in front of her family in Sheikhupura; a man with his three friends gangraped his fiancée and snatched jewelry; a 16-year-old girl was raped by her stepfather in Lahore; the mother of four children was raped in Bhagatpura; a 10-year-old was raped in Manwan; 17-year-old girl was raped after being promised a job; a minor girl was raped and killed in Korangi; a woman was abducted and gangraped; an elderly woman was tortured, dragged and the attacker attempted to rape her. A few cases have been quoted here.
Sorrowfully, numerous other cases remain to be mentioned here. Unfortunately, a tiny figure of cases have been reported, still many cases are unreported.
The given obnoxious incidents give women a sense of insecurity and uncertainty. Wretchedly, women in our society are deemed a prey and an open invitation by mad dogs (rapists) which they cannot evade whom they leave no stone unturned to assault. The exponential rise in gender-based violence has CHANGED our society into a hell for women, where they are considered aN inferior segment of society. This abysmal picture of our society adversely impacts our international image.
The study conducted by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, despite an improvement in women’s perception of community safety, still ranks Pakistan fourth among the worst countries for women to live in.
In accordance with the official data- collected from law enforcement agencies and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 11 rape cases are reported regularly in Pakistan. More, the last six years data unearthed an icky tally of 22,000 cases registered to police in Pakistan. Dolefully, the conviction rate stood at 0.3% of the total.
Research conducted by Geo News revealed that only 41 per cent of cases have been reported to the police. A police official estimated the actual number of assaults could be as high as 60,000 in the last five years.
Furthermore, the Cyber Wing of the FIA in Lahore told that they had received 6,168 sexual harassment complaints out of a total of 14,108 in less than eight months. It further explained that mostly the complaints were lodged by university and college students relating to blackmailing by peers through the use of doctored videos and photographs.
Regarding violence against women, Punjab made up to 73 percent of total cases, Ministry of Human Rights Toll-free helpline data showed. Besides, recent data by the Punjab police divulged that 1890 rape cases and 88 gang-rape cases had been registered just in the first six months of this year.
