Violence against women continues unabated

As per report, incidents of physical assault, rape and femicide increased drastically

LAHORE:

Violence against women in Punjab is on the rise for the past few years, according to a report compiled by Punjab Police.

Just a week before the Eidul Azha holidays in Lahore a number of crime against women cases were reported.

On July 17, a man was booked for setting his wife ablaze after brutal torture in an incident of domestic violence in Kahna.

Reportedly, the suspect was deranged after his wife insisted on not selling their home. The suspect allegedly beat his wife with rods and pipes. After the victim fell unconscious in her bed, the suspect sprinkled petrol and set her on fire.

A day prior to this incident, a man attempted sexual assault on a minor girl in Shahdara Town. It came forth during investigations that the suspect was a habitual offender but was nabbed for the first time.

On July 15, at least three women were found murdered. The body of a woman with marks of torture was recovered from a canal in Barki. Moreover, a man shot dead his niece in Manawan on a domestic dispute and a woman was found dead in her flat in Nawab Town.

On July 14, a 35-year-old woman named Rani Bibi was found murdered in the fields in Shera Kot. She was reportedly stabbed to death. Later, it transpired her husband had murdered her with the help of accomplices.

On the same day, a teenage girl was recovered unconscious from Davis Road, Lahore. She was a resident of Karachi and had been visiting a bazaar near her home. When she got up, she found herself on a roadside in Lahore.

On July 12, a woman named Naseem Bibi was murdered in Shadbagh. On July 11, a model named Nayab Nadeem was found murdered in her flat in Defence.

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This is the status of women living in the provincial metropolis over the past few days.

The violence against women is entrenched in our society. The worrying part is that it had increased during recent times.

A report titled ‘Tracking Crimes against People - A Numeric Tale of Human (In)Security’ prepared by Sustainable Social Development Organisation, a rights group, stated that a 200 per cent increase in cases of violence against women across Pakistan was reported in the three months between January 2020 to March 2020.

The provincial police department’s report showed that 2,957 women had been killed in the name of ‘honour’ between 2011 and 2020.

According to the data on honour killings across the province, 364 were killed in 2011, 366 in 2012, 388 in 2013, 404 in 2014, 328 in 2015, 248 in 2016, 181 in 2017, 244 in 2018, 197 in 2019 and 237 in 2020.

Aurat Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, prepared a report of violence against women in 25 districts of all the four provinces and the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

According to the report, at least 2,297 women faced violence from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

At least 411 women were murdered, 329 women were raped, 115 women committed suicide, 81 women were killed for ‘honour’, 17 women fell victim to acid attacks, 474 women faced domestic violence and 870 women were abducted.

The worrying numbers of crimes against women and the horrific stories that surface can leave the readers with goosebumps.

The spike in violence against women raised concerns in society about government negligence.

The statistics showed that in a number of cases where crimes were committed against women, close relatives of the victims were often the perpetrators.

The government needs to take the issue of violence against women seriously. A lot of legislation has been done but implementation of these laws is yet to be seen.

Women who were forced to leave their homes to escape abuse often had to return to the same households where they faced prolonged violence.

Moreover, it is not sufficient to just provide shelter and financial support to victims who were abandoned.

There is a need to aid women and steps must be taken for economic uplift of vulnerable women.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2021.