Increase in crime against women in past three months

Islamabad : The periodical report of Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) from January-March 2020 has indicated an alarming 200 per cent increase in the cases of violence against women in Pakistan in past three months.

The report has been compiled from the data and information collected from national and provincial dailies. However, there is a strong possibility that many crimes had been committed and not reported or misreported at various locations in the country,” says a press release issued by the organization.

The report mainly covers crimes regarding early child marriage, child abuse, child labour, domestic abuse, kidnapping, rape, violence against women (VAW) and murder. The report says that more than 90 percent of the incidents took place against children and women.

The report titled “Tracking Crimes against People - A Numeric Tale of Human (In) Security,” also shows that the crime rate kept fluctuating as a 73 per cent drop was witnessed during the month of February but a spike of up to 360 per cent was witnessed during the month of March 2020.

The report shows that from January to February, the number of incidents was doubled, however the percentage remained as low as 15 per cent whereas February marked the highest percentage in the cases of work-place harassment.

It indicates an exponential growth in rape cases from February to March, 2020 and says that as many as 164 cases of abduction cases were been reported during these three months, whereas violence against women increased by 200 per cent. There was a staggering 142.1 per cent increase of murder cases during the month of March 2020.

The findings points out that majority of the crimes against children had been sex driven. Abduction, rape, and killing was the pattern prevalent in crimes against children. In most of the cases, the report says that the places where criminal act against any child took place was a familiar site usually the playing ground or street, known neighboring home, or place near the victim's residence. However, few cases showed that children often were subjected to indirect violence where they might not be intended targets. Few children lost their lives at the hands of those in troubled families. There were children who suffered or made to suffer by anyone of the estranged parent or by another child.

During the first quarter, around 61 cases of child abuse were reported while child labour cases witnessed significant drop with 20 such cases reported in the newspapers. As many as 20 cases of domestic violence, eight of work place harassment, 25 of rape, 164 of kidnapping and 36 of violence against women were reported in these three months.

Director SSDO Syed Kausar Abbas said that the purpose of this periodic report was to evaluate the performance of law enforcement in addressing the crimes against the people of Pakistan. “Human security is the fundamental right of every citizen that needs to be ensured by the state. The increase in the crimes against women and children shows that there is a need to impose the existing legislation at all levels by ensuring that every institution and citizen has awareness on his/her fundamental right to live in a secure and safe environment in the country,” he said adding that the next periodic report will be published in the month of July 2020.