Of some 500 cases of violence against women – including abduction, rape, murder, suicide, domestic violence and sexual assault – registered in Sindh during the past six months, the highest number of cases was that of honour killing.
The Aurat Foundation (AF) disclosed figures of its second six-month report on violence against women in Sindh at a press conference on Friday.
Member Provincial Assembly-Sindh Nusrat Saher Abbasi, AF Resident Director Mehnaz Rehman and AF Sindh Director Advocate Rubina Brohi talked about incidents of violence that took place in Sindh between July and December 2011.
According to the report, in the second half of last year, the ratio of violent crimes in the rural areas is more than those in the urban areas, as 299 incidents were recorded in the rural, whereas 197 in the urban areas.
The rate of honour killings was high among those incidents, whereas mostly relatives were involved in these crimes.
Some 497 people fell victim to violence, and 472 among them were female victims, whereas the rest were male victims.
Of the women, 137 were unmarried, 205 married, one divorced, two widowed, whereas the information of some 127 victims’ marital status is unknown.
Some 251 cases were reported through First Information Report, 175 were unreported, and there is hardly any information regarding 71 cases.
There were 111 cases of honour killing, 95 of murder, 51 of abduction, 25 of rape, 12 of sexual assault, 13 of attempted murder, 30 of custodial violence, 56 of suicide and attempted suicide, 52 of domestic violence, seven of life threat, 12 of harassment, three of acid throwing, one of burning, six of being sold, 41 of vanni and three of sang chatti.
In the last six months of the previous year, violence against women remained higher in Khairpur (60), Shikarpur (48), Larkana (47), Sukkur (39), Dadu (30) and Ghotki (29).
