Marked rise in police torture, rape cases

Number of cases of torture and rape by police officials has increased by 60% over last 3 years says Interior Ministry.

ISLAMABAD: During the last three years the number of cases of torture and rape by police officials has increased by 60 per cent states a new Interior Ministry report. The report was submitted in the national assembly by Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The report states that 178 policemen in Punjab were involved in rape and other human rights violations, of which 89 of them were sent to jail.

Of the 78 cases where policemen were found guilty of abuse and rape in Sindh, 12 were sent to jail.

In Balochistan, during the last two years 10 policemen were found guilty of human rights violations and violence against women.

One such case was reported in the federal area, however no cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.

Violence on the rise overall

An earlier report in The Express Tribune citing the first bi-annual report on the “Situation of Violence against Women in Pakistan 2010’ by the Aurat Foundation revealed that Punjab dominated with 2690 registered cases out of a total of 4069 incidents in various parts of Pakistan.

In July, it was reported that violence against women had overall risen by 13 per cent in 2009. At the time, representatives of the Aurat Foundation and the organisation ‘Violence against Women Watch’ (VAW) had stated:

“We have no expectations from the interior ministry or the provincial governments and their departments... but we urge the ministry of women’s development, which is under the prime minister’s authority, and the women’s parliamentary caucus, which is headed by the speaker of the National Assembly and comprises women MNAs who are strong supporters of women’s rights, and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), which is headed by a renowned women’s rights activist, to do something to stop this terrible situation of violence against women in the country.”