Inhuman brutality

The stories we hear of gang-rape, abuse, and the deliberate torment of women and girls seem to be growing worse with each incident. Now a mother in Faisalabad has complained that her teenage daughters, aged 17 and 15, were abducted for six days and gang-raped and videotaped by a gang of men in September this year. She has said the family did not make the complaint earlier, but chose instead to change residence because they were poor, and they did not have the resources to move the court. However, the torture of the family continued with the men guilty of the gang-rape following them and sending videos or making mocking statements over the telephone. It is not certain if any attempt at blackmail was made, although this is unlikely, given the poor financial status of the family.

Such blatant violation of the rights of women only seems to be increasing. What these two young sisters went through is something that will haunt them for life, no matter what happens next and no matter what punishment, if any, is meted out to those who attacked them so viciously. These young sisters are not the first in the country to have faced such violence. There have been previous gang-rapes, accusations of rings of child-molesters and abusers and of gangs engaged in child pornography at the global level. We have not acted against them. This is one reason why the crimes continue and why we are unable to stop them. We often hear those in power talk about the exemplary punishments they will hand out to the perpetrators. However, for the women of the country what really matters is that their rapists are caught and are punished. There is no need for extraordinary punishments. We simply need to ensure the law is adhered to and that every citizen is able to access justice, whether they are rich or poor, influential or lacking in any influence.

The reality is that most people in the country have no voice. They simply endure what happens to them without anyone to turn to or any place to go. The police are rarely sympathetic to rape victims. In some cases, they have been found to be involved with gangs engaged in crimes of various kinds. Action must be taken in this case and the misery of this family from Faisalabad brought to an end.