Retributive Justice : ‘Try gang rape cases in military courts’

BAHAWALPUR: “Gang rape cases should be tried in military courts,” said social worker Mukhtar Mai on Saturday. She was talking to newsmen at a press conference. “Strong measures are needed to curb incidents of sexual violence,” she said. She said Pakistani women were more disenfranchised socially and economically than women in rest of south Asia. “Cases of sexual violence against women are not taken seriously by institutions meant to enforce laws on protection of women.” She said the discrepancy between the number of reported gang rapes and convictions showed that the police and the courts were not serious about curbing this trend. “If women cannot find justice through the judiciary, cases of heinous crimes should be tried in military courts,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.