KARACHI: As many as 2,093 cases of human rights violations were reported to the police between Jan 31, 2019 and Jan 31, 2020 and 2,115 suspects were arrested, police data shared with the media recently said.

It said that 735 of the cases had been chargesheeted, 863 under investigation and 749 cases were being heard by courts.

These human rights violations cases pertained to so-called honour killings, kidnappings of females, sexual assaults, workplace harassment, forced labour, underage marriages, acid attacks, stove-burning incidents, torture of minorities and hurting the religious sentiments, etc.

108 women fell victims to ‘honour-killings’

According to the police data, as many as 108 women fell victims to the so-called ‘honour-killings’ in Sindh in the past one year.

Total 126 suspects allegedly involved in these crimes were arrested, police filed charge sheets in 81 cases, 32 were still under investigation and 73 were being heard by courts. Three of the cases were cancelled.

During the said period, total 1,158 cases of girls’ marriages/kidnappings were reported to the police across Sindh in which 550 suspects got arrested, challans of 301 cases filed in courts, 466 cases were still under investigation while 358 cases were being heard by courts.

Police data says model courts have handed down punishments in 5,522 cases of murders and 8,988 drug cases

Out of these cases, 26 cases were untraced, 20 others were ‘fake’ while 249 cases were cancelled as it was transpired during investigation that the ‘kidnapped’ girls had married with their free will, said a police spokesperson.

Murder of 132 women

Sharing details of the state of human rights in Sindh in a year, the police report said that total 132 women/girls were murdered for different reasons and 174 suspects were arrested, challans of 87 cases filed, 42 cases were still under investigation and 75 cases were being heard by the courts.

The police could not find evidence in six murder cases while as many cases were cancelled.

During the same period, a total of 128 cases of torture against women/girls were reported to the police in which 136 suspects were arrested, challans of 72 cases presented, 45 cases were under investigation while 64 cases were being heard by the courts.

The police could not find any evidence in one case while 14 cases were cancelled.

Six cases of criminal assaults on minor girls were reported to police stations in the province in which 11 suspects were arrested, challans of four cases presented, one case was still under investigation while four other cases were being heard by the courts.

The police claimed that only three cases of acid attacks against women were reported during the one year in which two suspects were arrested, challans of two cases presented while one case was still under investigation.

As many as 35 cases of stove-burnings and others were reported during the one year and 19 suspects were arrested, challans of 22 cases filed, five cases were still under investigation and 23 cases were being heard by the courts.

The police could not find any evidence in three cases while eight other cases were cancelled.

95 women raped

The police said that 95 women were subjected to rape during the last one year and 92 suspects were arrested, challans of 42 cases filed, 40 other cases were still under investigation and 37 cases were being heard by the courts.

Three rape cases remained untraced while five others were cancelled.

The police said that seven females were subjected to gang-rape and nine suspects in these cases were arrested, challans of four cases presented, three other cases were under investigation while two cases were being heard by the courts.

Workplace harassment

The data showed that 35 cases of workplace harassment were reported to the police in one year in which 37 suspects were arrested, challans of 15 cases presented, two cases were being investigated while 14 others were being heard by the courts.

One case remained untraced while seven other cases were cancelled.

The police also said that six cases of criminal assaults on boys were reported from seminaries/schools in which seven suspects were held, challans of three cases presented, two cases were still under investigation while two cases were being heard by the courts. One such case was cancelled.

Similarly, six cases of ‘forced labour’ were reported to the police in which 19 suspects were arrested, challans of three cases presented while two cases were being heard by the courts. Two more such cases were cancelled.

The police claimed that only two cases of ‘child labour’ were reported in which seven suspects were arrested while two cases were still under investigation.

66 children kidnapped

The police said that 66 cases of kidnappings of children were reported in the past one year in which 64 suspects were arrested, challans of 14 cases presented, 41 cases were still under investigation while 17 cases were being heard by the courts.

One case remained untraced while three other such cases were cancelled.

During the same period, 41 cases of criminal assaults on boys were reported. The police arrested 58 suspects, presented challans of 22 cases while 18 cases were still being investigated. The courts were hearing 12 cases, one case remained untraced while two others were cancelled.

The police data showed that only nine cases of underage marriages were reported in which 19 suspects were arrested, challans of five cases presented, four others were being investigated while two cases were being heard by the courts.

The police registered 39 cases of ‘sexual exploitation’ of boys in one year, arrested 33 suspects, presented challans of 26 cases, 13 other cases were being investigated while 21 cases were being heard by the courts.

The police said that only six cases pertaining to hurting religious sentiments were reported in which eight suspects were arrested while four cases were being heard by the courts.

Similarly, the police claimed that only three cases of torture of minorities at places of worship were reported during the period in which four suspects were arrested, challan of one case was presented and another was still being investigated.

Convictions

The police data showed model courts established in Sindh on the directives of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan recently had handed down punishments in 5,522 cases of murders and 8,988 drug cases.

Police investigators presented total 65,950 witnesses in these cases, which helped the judiciary to decide such a huge number of cases.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2020