No action: Conviction on rights abuses negligible

Senate hears that the rate is shockingly low at 0.09%

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Thursday that out of 14,212 cases of human rights violations reported in the country in 2016, the conviction rate stands at a shocking 0.09%.

The list of crimes includes rape, honour killings and incidents of domestic violence. The startling statistics were presented by Human Rights Minister Kamran Michael while submitting a written reply in the upper house of parliament.

According to details, Punjab is at the top with 7,313 cases reported in 2016 followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (3,247), Sindh (2,817), Balochistan (612) and Islamabad with 223 cases. Out of 3,247 cases reported in K-P, 2,821 are pending in different courts.



The reply stated that the National Police Bureau (NPB), the Ministry of Interior and all inspectors general of police (IGPs) were requested to provide details of the cases.

“The NPB has informed the ministry that the requisite data for 2016 is not available with them,” the minister stated, adding the information was sought from all the IGPs concerned.

The alarming aspect of the details is that Punjab has the lowest conviction rate with only three convictions. K-P also shared the same figure as that of Punjab, while in Sindh only seven people were convicted of such crimes.

However, no details have been submitted by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police and Balochistan.

Punjab

Punjab has the highest number – 7,313 – of reported cases of human rights violations in which 15,245 accused were nominated out of which 283 were acquitted; three awarded punishment, while in 86 cases parties reached a compromise.



The statistics are more disturbing when it comes to domestic violence where out of 1,441 reported cases, only one person was awarded punishment.

Out of 222 cases of honour killing, 333 persons were nominated as accused of which 15 were acquitted and six reached some kind of compromise.

Out of 49 women-burning cases, only one accused was punished by the authorities concerned and one was settled out of court.

Besides, only one person was punished in 2,938 cases of rape while nothing happened in 222 cases of gang-rape, two custodial rapes and nine cases of incest.

In 2,423 other crimes of violence, not a single person was prosecuted in which 6,068 persons were nominated.

K-P

The situation in K-P is also appalling. Around 5,049 people were nominated in 3,247 cases for violating human rights. In total, 4,965 accused were challaned of which 167 were acquitted and only three got convicted.

Moreover, 256 were under investigation while 2,821 cases were still pending in courts.

Sindh

The situation in Sindh is not much different from other parts of the country where not a single person was convicted in 2,149 cases of honour killings, kidnap and abduction of women.

Only one person was convicted in 194 cases of murder and similarly one person was sent behind bars out of 26 reported cases of harassment at workplaces.



Nobody was handed down punishment in 31 cases of sexual abuse against children.

Balochistan, ICT

Officials in the province like the ICT police did not bother to share details of human rights violations in their jurisdictions and only provided the number of 612 reported cases in six cities along with 1,547 accused nominated in the cases and 792 persons arrested.

Similarly, the ICT police has submitted that 98 cases of murder were reported in the given year in which 130 persons were arrested, while in 39 cases of rape about 58 arrests were made along with 90 arrests in 86 cases of kidnap.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2017.