–Committee’s bill, entitled the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018, seeks to amend the Pakistan Penal Code Act 1860’s Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14) so that the punishment for the crime is a public execution
ISLAMABAD: Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik on Wednesday requested the Senate to take up a bill seeking public hanging of child rapists.
Malik, in a letter to the Senate Secretariat, said: “The amendments to the existing legislation, which have been approved by the Senate committee, seek changes to the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in relation to punishments for the offence of the kidnapping of children.”
The committee’s bill, entitled the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018, seeks to amend the Pakistan Penal Code Act 1860’s Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14) so that the punishment for the crime is a public execution.
Section 364-A currently reads: “Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person under the [age of fourteen] in order that such person may be murdered or subjected to grievous hurt… or to the lust of any person [sic] shall be punished with death.”
The bill seeks to add the phrase, “public execution”, after the word “death” in the current legislation.
The bill seeks the same amendment to the CrPC, 1898, Schedule II, Column 1 against Section 364-A.
Malik in the letter requested the House take up the bill before the current Senate session ends, saying that Zainab’s killer should be made an example of by executing him publicly.
The committee’s request comes a day after the arrest of a 24-year-old man named Imran Ali in Zainab murder and rape case. The suspect is a serial killer based in Kasur, who is accused of raping and murdering 6-7 girls over the course of two years.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while announcing the arrest of the suspect, had said: “If law allows, the beast should be hanged at the square.”
RABBANI SEEKS REPORT FROM LAW COMMITTEE OVER PUBLIC HANGING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHILD ABUSERS:
Later on Wednesday, Senate chairman sought a report from the Committee of Law and Justice over amendments recommended by the Committee of Interior seeking public hanging of abductors who kill or sexually assault minors.
The bill proposed by the committee, entitled the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018, seeks to amend the Pakistan Penal Code Act 1860’s Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14) so that the punishment for the crime is a public execution.
Earlier in the day, Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik had requested the Senate to take up a bill seeking public hanging of those found guilty of kidnapping or raping children under the age of 14.
Debating the recommendations, Senator Farhatullah Babar and Senator Hasil Bizenjo strongly opposed the amendments.
“One person was hanged publicly in Lahore during Zia’s era. We should not revert to that,” Babar added. “If the law is amended today, the demands will not stop and calls for hanging everyone will be raised.”
Meanwhile, Senator Sitara Ayaz and Barrister Saif claimed that sexual abuse of children is rampant at Pir Wadhai stop in Rawalpindi but no action had been taken.
Senate chairman sought a reply from the law ministry on the issue and sent the matter to the committee on law and justice for further deliberations.
He also asked the law minister to participate in the committee’s discussions on the issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that Section 364-A currently reads: “Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person under the [age of fourteen] in order that such person may be murdered or subjected to grievous hurt… or to the lust of any person [sic] shall be punished with death.”
But the amendment suggested by the committee on interior seeks to add the phrase, “by hanging publicly”, after the word “death” in the current legislation, the letter said.
The bill seeks the same amendment to the CrPC, 1898, Schedule II, Column 1 against Section 364-A.
‘1,764 CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CASES RECORDED BETWEEN JAN AND JUNE 2017’:
According to a report by a non-governmental organisation, Sahil, as many as 1,764 cases of child sexual abuse were recorded nationwide from January to June 2017.At least 752 cases pertained to abuse being carried out by an acquaintance, while 291 have been committed by an acquaintance in collusion with a stranger. Although reported cases with the police are recorded as 1,306, 23 cases were unregistered while the police refused to register another 47 cases. The Sahil report claims that cases not reported to the police have seen a rise of 109 per cent as compared to the last year. In terms of geographical locations, 1,309 cases were from rural areas while 455 cases were reported in urban areas.
The report shows that Kasur already had nine reported cases of murder after sexual assault followed by Lahore that had six, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura both saw four cases, while Hyderabad, Sahiwal and Sargodha each recorded three cases.
Two cases were reported from Faisalabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Khairpur, Multan, Nankana, Narowal, Okara, Sialkot and Sukkur. One case was reported from Attock, DG Khan, DI Khan, Islamabad, Jamshoro, Jhang, Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Sanghar and Tharparkar.
According to Sahil, statistics for the first six months of 2017 reveal that in Kasur alone, a total of 129 cases of child assault were reported. Of these, 34 were abductions, 23 were rapes. In the last three years, a total of 720 incidents have been reported from Kasur.