Victory for all women

Khadija's victory was a victory for women across the nation

Khadija Siddiqui and her family are elated and so are we all at the Supreme Court judgment announced on January 23. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa overturned the acquittal decision of the Lahore High Court in Khadija Siddiqui stabbing case and restored the five years’ prison sentence given to accused Shah Hussain by a sessions judge in Lahore. In line with the adage that justice should not only be done but it should also be seen to have been done, the Supreme Court sent the convict straight from the courtroom to prison to serve out the sentence. He has already spent eight months in jail.

Siddiqui, who is now doing Bar-at-Law at a law school in London, was stabbed by her then classmate Shah Hussain, on May 3, 2016 in Lahore. According to her lawyer, the accused stabbed his client 23 times with two swipes at her neck. According to doctors at the hospital where she was taken after the attack, her wounds were bleeding when she was brought to the hospital. When the court asked Siddiqui about the motive of the man for attacking her, she said he was manipulating her and making her life miserable. After the announcement of judgment, a confident Siddiqui told the media, “This decision is a victory for all women.” She gave a message to all the oppressed women when she said that a precedent has been set that by raising your voice you will be victorious in your battle against oppression and for the truth.

This Supreme Court decision and the decision in Zainab rape and murder case have given a boost to the common people’s confidence in the judiciary. We hope deadheads will continue to be punished to instill fear in dunderhead monsters.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2019.

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