Women abuse
As a follow-up on the recently-passed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa prevention of domestic violence against women bill, the provincial government will constitute a committee in each district that will coordinate between the complainant and the court to help the victim. The deputy commissioner, district Khatib, psychologists and relevant experts will be members of the committee, and a helpline will also be established to facilitate the victims and to prevent incidents of domestic violence. Under the provisions of the bill, an application can be submitted to the court within 15 days of the occurrence of such incidents, and the court would decide the case within two months. The bill prescribes imprisonment for one year with a fine of Rs300,000 for perpetrators of domestic violence against women. The district protection committees will provide medical help, shelter, legal assistance and other reasonable help to the sufferers of domestic violence.
The need for such legislation has long been felt in view of the ever-increasing incidents of violence against women. Not a week passes when there are no reports about violence, including domestic violence, against women in the country. Cases of honour killing too have been on the rise in which mostly women are killed. The situation has only been deteriorating with the passage of time, and women are being treated as if they are sub-humans. Our women are getting increasingly vulnerable to domestic and sexual abuse and losing their lives for something as indefinable as honour killing. Recently, a man murdered his wife and four children to protect the family’s honour, in Gujranwala. In another recent incident, a teen-age girl was repeatedly raped by several men, and as a result, she became pregnant. Why are we so cruel to our women and girls?
Now there are laws to prevent domestic violence against women in all provinces of the country. However, mere existence of laws on the statute books does not serve the purpose. What is needed is strict enforcement of the laws.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2021.
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