Justice is done

The life sentencing of Usman Mirza, and partners is a triumph of women’s empowerment and the State deserves due credit

The life sentencing of Usman Mirza, and his partners in crime, is a triumph of women’s empowerment, and the State of Pakistan deserves due credit in making that happen. The Parliamentary Secretary Law, Islamabad Police, the judicial bureaucracy and the civil society that rallied for the fundamental rights of modesty of a woman and of privacy have made the country proud. It is no small achievement that these men and women stood the tide of temptation, intimidation and coercion to enable provision of justice to the couple of Islamabad E-11 torture case, and the honourable court has made history by pronouncing the well-ordained verdict.

Mirza, a businessman, along with his accomplices in July 2021, held a couple at gunpoint, forced them to strip, tortured and filmed them. A sessions court in Islamabad rightly made use of that irrefutable piece of video and forensic evidence to fix the culprits, sentencing them to life in prison. They were also handed seven years in prison for criminal intimidation; given another three years for intending to insult the modesty of a woman, as sections pertaining to rape, sexual abuse, extortion, and wrongful confinement were also added on the charge-sheet; and slapped with financial penalties. This comprehensive piece of verdict is consolation, and has set rightful standards of deterrence against such awful crimes.

One of the most exemplary aspects of this trial, and subsequent conviction, is the role of the government. The State took its responsibility to dispense justice, as the victims were coerced and forced to retreat from the charges. A new precedent was set by taking on the role of prosecution. This convention should be upheld for all times to come. This is how a just and pluralistic society could flourish, and the role of State and a responsible government be vindicated, against the haunted shadows of cruelty, barbarism and despotism. Pakistan has enough laws in its annals, and all it needs is its implementation — and that too without resourcing to any partiality. Justice should be seen to be done. Usman and the likes, and those who believe that woman’s modesty is a commodity, deserve stringent retribution. The court has simply upheld justice in all graciousness.