Following public outrage over the rape of a woman on a Pakistan highway last week in front of her children, Pakistan PM Imran Khan calls for ‘Chemical Castration’ and ‘Public Execution’ of Rapists.
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets of cities across Pakistan especially near the eastern city of Lahore in recent days following an arrest in a gangrape case that has prompted nationwide protests. The case attracted additional anger after a senior police officer seemed to blame the victim because she was driving at night without a male companion. Later because of the public outrage, Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh apologized after he faced backlash and calls for his resignation.
When asked about the case, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the worst sex crimes should be punishable by public hangings, but added this could impact trading deals with partners that oppose the death penalty, such as the European Union.
“What I think is that there should be chemical castration, I have read it is happening in many countries,” Imran Khan said in an interview.
“The way murder is graded: First-, second- and third-degree. This should also be graded, and for first-degree (sex crimes) there should be castration.”
Chemical castration involves using drugs to reduce a person’s libido.
Imran Khan’s comments came after police arrested Shafqat Ali, one of two suspects in the gang-rape case.” His DNA has matched, and he has confessed to the crime,” Punjab province Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said on Twitter. A senior police official confirmed the arrest, adding that a manhunt was ongoing for the second suspect.
Legal expert Osama Malik told the AFP news agency the rape conviction rate can be as low as 2 percent. “This drops even lower in cases where a minor has been raped. That is one of the reasons that rape is rarely reported,” said Osama Malik as quoted by Aljazeera.
He also blamed social stigma and biased mentality attached to sex crimes and the “abhorrently misogynistic attitude” of many police officials for the underreporting of rape cases.
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