Justice Ayesha rejects rape-victim blaming

ISLAMABAD:

Supreme Court Justice Ayesha Malik on Tuesday questioned beliefs that blame women for inviting sexual assault, urging a reassessment of such assumptions.

She was addressing participants at the launch of a bench book on the adjudication of rape cases for judges of gender-based violence (GBV) courts in the federal capital.

In her keynote address, Justice Ayesha voiced concern that sexual violence had become so commonplace that it no longer elicited the public outrage it deserved. She criticised notions that women could be held responsible for sexual assault.