THE Senate Standing Committee on Interior passed a bill last week with a majority vote that favoured the public hangings of rapists — a move that was condemned by the PPP as well as the interior and foreign affairs ministries. Proposed by a Jamaat-i-Islami senator, the bill seeks to amend certain sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code to legalise public executions.

This is a disturbing development. Since the rape and murder of young Zainab Ansari in 2018, the call for public hangings has intensified. The idea has been encouraged by many well-known figures, with Imran Khan endorsing it when he was prime minister. The parties and organisations criticising the vote rightly point out that executions do not act as deterrents, and that carrying out capital punishment in city squares is going to further brutalise a society already steeped in violence. Those who support public executions are allowing their emotions to gain the upper hand — or playing to the gallery. The reality is that executions — including public ones — do not improve the criminal justice system. In this context, the PPP’s Sherry Rehman was right to indicate that crime, even after former military dictator Ziaul Haq’s introduction of punishments administered in view of the public, did not come down and, in fact, increased “barbarism and violence”. The anger at the growing violence and sexual crimes against women is understandable. But it should find an outlet in better funding for police, improved criminal investigations and solid training for officers investigating rape. Instead, public emotions are whipped up by calling for executions when the nation is overcome by horror. This paper has consistently criticised the death penalty, and the fact that many of our lawmakers now want to implement this sentence in city squares is extremely worrying. Mr Khan once remarked that he would legalise the public hanging of rapists, but that the international community would not view it kindly as it goes against their human rights principles. Such statements are not focused on justice, but on the idea of immediate revenge, which means they do not yield any positive result in the long term. Our lawmakers should look at the flaws in our justice system when deliberating on such important matters, and not let emotions or the need to appease the public get in their way.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2023