ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday deliberated measures to discourage out-of-court settlement in rape cases.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Syed Ali Zafar.

In the previous meeting, Senator Ali Zafar had emphasised that the law and justice committee had taken upon itself to ensure effective implementation of the anti-rape laws and there would be no compromise or tolerance for negligence.

All provincial and capital territory inspectors general of police, interior and home secretaries attended the meeting to apprise the committee of the steps taken by the police and federal and provincial authorities under the new anti-rape laws.

The committee chairman pointed out that even if the cases were investigated and prosecuted properly, the witnesses and victims were forced to compromise either by force, influence or through settlements against monetary benefits.

Law secretary briefs committee on steps taken in compliance with anti-rape laws

“Suggestions must be made to counter this menace,” advised Senator Ali Zafar.

The committee also recommended to the federal and provincial governments to set up forensic laboratories in all centres including the facility of polygraph test without which criminal justice system could not function anymore.

Senator Ali Zafar opened the discussion by stating that “it is the constitutional, legal, moral, ethical and fundamental duty of the state to provide security, safety and protection to all its citizens and particularly to those who are most vulnerable like women and children”.

He emphasised that if women and children were afraid of going out freely then obviously the state was not fulfilling the vision of an Islamic state.

He pointed out that instances of rapes of women and children continued to increase and women were publicly harassed and molested.

He further said the committee’s desire was to obtain first-hand information of the complications which were being faced by the law enforcement agencies in implementing the laws and that the committee would appreciate practical suggestions with the objective to improving the law and the processes of investigation and prosecution of rape cases.

The committee chairman pointed out that it was everyone’s responsibility to ensure that our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and children were protected against such a heinous crime.

He said the committee had taken upon itself that culprits involved in sexual crimes should immediately be arrested, investigated, prosecuted, tried and then sentenced with the gravest and exemplary punishments so that a deterrent was placed against this callous crime.

The law secretary briefed the committee on various steps they had taken in compliance with the anti-rape laws. The inspectors general of police, representing provinces and the federal capital, gave details of the cases which were being investigated since the promulgation of the anti-rape law.

The largest number of cases was reported in Punjab which had more than 1,000 cases under investigation currently.

Sindh has 374 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 100 while Islamabad has 19 under investigation. The law has not yet been implemented in Balochistan as notifications are awaited.

The interior secretary and home secretaries gave their suggestions and pointed out the hurdles in implementation of the laws which required to be rectified.

The committee was concerned with the fact that although the law provided for the witness protection, yet no steps were envisaged to be taken under it. The committee has called upon the interior secretary and home secretary as well as the law secretary to come up with a plan regarding witness protection.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022