Federal cabinet gives nod to tough anti-rape laws

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday gave in-principle approval to two anti-rape ordinances aimed at curbing the growing number of rape incidents in the country through the addition of stringent punishments in contemporary laws.

The move came in the wake of a recent rape of a Karachi woman and her infant daughter in Kashmore earlier this month, and after the rape and subsequent brutal murders of five-year-old Marwah in September, and of Zainab Ansari in 2018 -- among several others.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while taking strict notice of the increasing crimes against children and women, said no civilised society tolerated such criminal acts.

The Prime Minister was chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet which considered a number of important agenda items, the PM Office said in a press release. The cabinet, in principle, approved Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance 2020 and Pakistan Penal Code (Amended) Ordinance 2020.

Addressing a post-cabinet press briefing, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said after giving in-principle approval to the anti-rape ordinance, the cabinet asked the Law Division and other relevant departments to finalise the draft at the earliest by removing all legal lacunae that could be exploited by offenders.

He said Prime Minister Khan, after taking serious notice of a recent rape incident of a mother and her daughter in Sindh, asked the law minister to prepare a comprehensive ordinance, encompassing fast-track trial of the accused, comprehensive definition of rape, inclusion of new offences and strict punishments for convicted rapists.

The minister said as the ordinance was of great importance and involved punitive actions against rapists it was forwarded to the Law Division for further improvement.

He expressed the hope that the initiative would significantly reduce the number of rape incidents in the country by creating deterrence against the offence in the society.

In a separate tweet, human rights minister Shireen Mazari said the cabinet approved in-principle “two critical ordinances to deal holistically with the menace of rape and child abuse and the Cabinet Committee for the disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) would finalise it and it should become operational in “the next few days”.

The minister said the bills included an expansive definition of rape, establishment of special courts, anti-rape crisis cells, protection of victims and witnesses, prohibition of the “two-finger” test etc. “These ordinances were badly needed,” she said.