In a recent report, British weekly The Economist examined incidences of rape in India, finding nearly 32,000 reported cases in the country in 2022.
A persistent issue for decades, it became a global concern in 2012 when a 23-year-old student was gang-raped on a bus in Delhi before being left for dead by the side of the road. Her subsequent death due to the severity of her injuries triggered mass protests and the passage of legislation aimed at curbing such incidents, Tragically, it made little difference, as observed earlier this year, when doctors and medical workers protested across India over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor was at a medical college in Kolkata.
But while India’s rape problem often makes global headlines, the problem is no less pronounced in Pakistan. According to the Human Rights Ministry, the country recorded 4,326 reported cases of rape in 2018; 4,377 in 2019; 3,887 in 2020; and 1,866 in 2021. The ministry’s report suggested reports of rape, violence and workplace harassment had gradually declined over the years, but critics have claimed this stems from dissatisfaction with the judicial system, which can take years to resolve rape cases, while presenting an unenviably low conviction rate. Taking heed of these concerns, the Government of Pakistan in 2019 decided to establish over 1,000 special courts nationwide focusing on gender-based violence.
In 1979, with the Offense of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, Pakistan strengthened punishments for rape and adultery, ranging from imprisonment and fines to even stoning to death. However, the laws had stringent evidentiary demands, requiring witnesses who could testify to the incidence of the crime. There was an attempt to resolve this in 2016, when Parliament unanimously passed new anti-rape and anti-honor-killing bills introducing harsher punishments while making DNA testing mandatory in rape cases to ensure the conviction of perpetrators. Unfortunately, problems persist in securing convictions for such crimes, leaving many critics to lament the prevailing system that fosters a culture of impunity and actively facilitates the release of alleged criminals—so long as they possess the influence to emerge victorious over the law.