State as prosecutor

The government’s decision to legally nail down the accused in the harassment, intrusion into privacy and stripping case is most welcome. It will act as a new leaf in empowering the women, and especially the dispossessed sections of the society, as the state takes on the role of public prosecutor in private-individual cases. In fact, this is the essence of a welfare and responsible state, and those behind this initiative in the PTI dispensation deserve full laurels.

A disgusting event took place as accused Usman Mirza, along with his henchmen, barged into the privacy of a couple in July last year in sector E-11, Islamabad. They resorted to highhanded tactics, along with stripping and filming the woman. The case had been under litigation for quite a while, but without any plausible retribution. It was lingering on because our judicial process is cumbersome and compromised. The mighty get away with it under various pretexts, and in this case the accused had coerced the victims to the core, and torpedoed the witness to their benefit.

Thus, pursuing the case on behalf of the state will set a great precedent. It will act as deterrence in future, wherein those who flout the law to their advantage can be taken to task. This aspect of state intervention was missing in our polity, and this is why murderers, rapists and arsonists shielded themselves behind Qisas, Diyat and other lawful clues, and prevailed over the victims to sign on the dotted lines. The tendency is to harass, blackmail and even exterminate the victims, as well as destroy and tamper the witnesses — all so because the element of monitoring and adjudication on the part of the state is lacking. Bringing Mirza and his coterie of debauchers to book will be a great beginning.

It’s high time the rule of law was established in Pakistan. Ours is primarily a patriarchal and feudal society, and the struggle for civil supremacy is still in tatters. Easy money, power greed and nepotism have further crippled the entire paradigm of resourcing to law. This is why Mirza was able to go to the extent of denying an obvious and established piece of witness in the court of law. The denial under coercion on the part of victims, before the competent authorities, speaks volumes of how devastated and despicable the system in vogue is. This cannot happen in any egalitarian society.

How can a video clip which remorsefully exhibits a poor couple crying, pleading for mercy, being slapped, and stripped and then their privacy violated cannot stand instant retribution in the court of law under the so-called backtracking of a statement by the victims? The learned legal officers and jurists should have themselves put their foot down — in their discretionary capacity — to cajole and convict Mirza and his likes.

It is a test case for the Parliamentary Secretary and the Law Minister, as well as the police officials, who are writing history in resilience. Let a new chapter be drafted wherein the State acts as the ultimate custodian for the victims, and at the same time the onus of proof is not twisted under flimsy assumptions. Such open and shut cases should be decided in a jiffy. The new norm should be: the state shall never tolerate intrusion into privacy, and shenanigans will be dealt with punitively.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2022.

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