Daily Times

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has taken suo motu notice of the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Karachi and asked the Inspector General Police Sindh to appear in court on December 24 to inform about the progress made so far in the case. The apex court has also inquired from the Punjab Police about the fate of a five-year-old girl who was gang raped in Lahore in September this year. Her offenders are still at large, in spite of the tall claims made by the Punjab government to punish them within 100 days. In another development, the Lahore High Court has sought explanations of an incident of rape of a minor girl in Vehari by her teacher in a seminary. All these incidents have one thing in common: rape of minor girls.

The idea of the power of a man embedded in the psyche of a patriarchal society such as ours leads to rape causing complete disorder in a woman’s life, rendering her an object of shame and stigma, which she must suffer for the rest of her life. This must change. The dignity, pride and respect of a woman should be fully restored in our society. We need to change the fundamental perceptions concerning women’s rights, and address the increasing incidence of rape crimes, that too of minor girls. Something is breaking down in our society. Is it morals? The vanishing values attached to womanhood passed on by mothers in the family system? Or is it the desire for instant gratification that has made cultural norms a thing of the past? To cleanse the rot regarding ill treatment of women, efforts are required from civil society that includes the educationists foremost, and in addition the legislators, and the media especially. Academic institutions should from the elementary level give gender education a special place in their curricula, with an emphasis on women’s respect and the permissible behaviour men should adopt towards them. The legal system needs to take stern action against rapists. Change in the attitude towards women in the criminal justice system will ensure that men do not take women for granted. The media’s role in framing the issue correctly through awareness campaigns would go a long way in preserving the dignity and respect of women and securing them against rapists. *