NA clears bill for swift action on child abuse cases

House passes six bills in all – thanks to govt-opposition bonhomie

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly on Friday passed with one voice a proposed law that makes it mandatory for police to take action in child abuse cases within two hours of reporting. The Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill 2019 is named after a 7-year-old girl, who was sexually abused and killed in her hometown of Kasur in Jan 2018, triggering nationwide outrage.

In all, the lower house of parliament green-lighted six government bills – thanks to the newfound bonhomie between both sides of the aisle. The lawmakers also passed a motion to withdraw a decision of the National Assembly on Nov 7, 2019 about consideration and passage of six bills promulgated as ordinances. The bills were later tabled in the house.

The Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill 2019 – which was moved by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari – envisages establishment of a dedicated helpline (1099) to specifically report child abuse cases. It also seeks to increase minimum jail term in child abuse cases to 10 years, and maximum, to 14 years.

The bill makes it mandatory for police to act within two hours after receiving a child abuse complaint. It states that action shall be taken against any officer who fails to respond to a child abuse case within two hours.

Dr Mazari told the house that a national action plan has been devised against child abuse and molestation, which would be launched later this month. She also said that awareness campaigns have been launched to check incidents of child abuse.

“The government in collaboration with the FIA [Federal Investigation Agency] has set up a registry which will compile data of those involved in cases of sexual abuses. A mechanism will be developed to share the data of sex offenders with other countries,” she added.

While responding to a call-attention notice regarding the latest incident of child abuse in Manshera, the minister said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has taken strict notice of “this despicable incident”.

“The K-P government is in touch with the victim’s family, while the alleged culprit has been arrested,” she said, adding that the child had been shifted to her home four days ago. One of the lawmakers in the house called for “public hanging” of those involved in child abuse crimes. The minister said the perpetrator of the Mansehra incident would be dealt with as law.

The house also passed five other bills. The reports of the relevant standing committees on these bills had already been presented during the previous sitting. The house passed a motion for immediate consideration of these bills and their clause-by-clause passage.

State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan moved a motion after consensus between the treasury and the opposition benches on withdrawing the decision on Nov 7, 2019 about the passage of six bills promulgated as ordinances.

Khan also read out an agreement between the government and the opposition after the latter objected to legislation through ordinances. After the opposition’s objections, the identical bills were re-introduced in the house and were forwarded to the standing committee on law.

Later, Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Maleeka Ali Bokhari tabled four of those bills as reported by the standing committee. The bills were passed on the recommendations of the committee. They include the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2019; Legal Aid and Justice Authority Bill, 2019; Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Bill, 2019 and Superior Courts (Court Dress and Mode of Address) Order (Repeal) Bill, 2019.

Earlier, at the outset of question hour, PPP lawmaker Naveed Qamar raised an objection that answers of several questions related to the interior ministry had not been received. Speaker Asad Qaiser took notice of the absence of the interior ministry representatives.

“This shows non-seriousness towards parliament. Someone from the ministry of interior should have been present in the house to respond,” he said, while directing the assembly secretariat to summon the interior secretary in his chamber after the proceedings.

He also asked Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Asad Umar to speak to the interior minister for his presence in the house and replies to the lawmakers’ questions addressed to the ministry.

Later, the interior ministry presented in the house the breakup of the crimes committed in the country in the last two years. It said the government has outlawed 84 outfits and 6,337 individuals under the Anti-terrorism Act, 2019.

The ministry said that 4,342 crimes were reported in 2018 and 4,100 in 2019 in Islamabad. It said Punjab topped the crimes list with over 490,000 incidents, followed by K-P with 178,000 incidents. In Sindh 80,822 incidents and in Balochistan 9,393 cases were reported, it added.

According to the interior ministry, 80 accused had been arrested for sexual offences against children in 2018, while 75 arrests were made in 2019. It said no person had been punished in child abuse cases in 2018 and only one was sentenced in 2019.