128pc increase in GBV cases

Islamabad: Number of reported cases of gender-based violence in first six months (January to June) of the year 2025 has increased 128 per cent as compared to the last year six months.

The statistics were released by Sahil, non-governmental organisation actively working in addressing gender-based violence, aiming to promote safety, equality, and justice within communities.

Sahil’s six months report is compiled on bases of the data collected from 81 different newspapers of all four provinces including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

The report shows that number of the cases of gender-based violence were 1732 in the year 2024 during the months of January to June which increased to 3958 in the year 2025 for the same period of time.

Among these reported cases, 857 were of murder, 783 were abducted, 638 were tortured, 380 were raped cases and 371 women committed suicide. Around 149 cases of honor killings were reported whereas there were 20 cases of other crime categories including harassment, injuries, gang rape and acid attack.

The report says that around 80 per cent of the total cases were reported from Punjab and 13 per cent cases from the Sindh. The rest of the cases were reported from other provinces including 5 per cent cases from KP, 2 per cent cases from, Baluchistan, ICT, AJK & GB.

Among the total cases, 427 occurred in the age bracket of 21-30 years, 342 cases were of age group 11-20 years, 163 cases in the age bracket 31-40 years, and in 72 per cent of cases, the age of the victims were not mentioned.

The Sahil report further says that the abuser involved in 35 per cent of the cases were acquaintances, 18 per cent were strangers, 12 per cent abusers were husband while in 18 per cent abusers were anonymous.

It further mentions that the majority of gender-based violence cases occurred in personal spaces, with victim's own home (2,578 cases) and abuser’s place (593 cases) making up the highest counts.

It says that out of all reported cases,79 per cent cases were registered with the police, 19 per cent cases status were not mentioned,1 per cent cases were unregistered with police while in 2 cases police refused to register the case.