Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday called for public hanging and chemical castration of rapists as authorities reported arresting a second man in connection with the rape of a woman on a motorway near Lahore last week.

“They [rapists] should be given exemplary punishments. In my opinion, they should be hanged at the chowk [intersection],” said Khan. “The way murders are graded as first degree, second degree and third degree, rape should also be graded this way, and the first grade rapists should be chemically castrated and made incapable completely,” he suggested. “Chemical castration should take place. I have been reading up on it, it happens in many countries,” he added.

Speaking about the motorway rape incident, Imran Khan said that it has shook the entire nation as everyone felt that it could happen to their wives and daughters. He said that when he first became prime minister, he was shocked to receive a briefing from the Islamabad IG who told him that sex crimes are on the rise against women and children.

He called for a three-pronged strategy to deal with cases of rape and sexual abuse, starting first with registering sex offenders and pedophiles. He stated the example of foreign countries where pedophiles – after a proven history of sexually abusing children again after being released from jail – were properly registered and tracked by governments. He said that the second step through which the government could deal with rapists and child sexual abusers is to hand them exemplary punishments. “They should be hanged on chowks,” he said. “Because they ruin children’s lives and their parents [lives]. You don’t even know how often these cases occur as they are under reported,” he added. “They should be hanged publicly”.

However, Imran Khan said, the government later came to the conclusion that the action of publicly hanging rapists would not be ‘internationally acceptable’ as Pakistan was accorded the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) status by the EU which could be revoked. He then said that the government should opt for chemical castration of rapists. “Chemical castration or perform surgery [on rapists] so they can’t do anything in future,” he said.

The prime minister’s remarks came as a suspect wanted by authorities in the case was arrested and he also confessed to the crime. In a tweet, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar identified the suspect as Shafqat Ali, and said his DNA had matched with the samples collected from the crime scene. “Our entire team is also making continuous efforts for the arrest of suspect Abid Ali, which is expected soon,” he said, referring to the primary suspect in the case.

“In the light of scientific analysis and investigation of the evidence found at the crime scene, one of the [suspects] …, Shafqat Ali son of Allah Ditta, resident of Haroonabad, Bahawalnagar district, has been arrested,” Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani said in a statement. He confirmed that Shafqat’s DNA had matched the samples obtained from the crime scene. He said just as the Punjab Police worked ‘day and night’ to arrest Shafqat, ‘the fugitive [suspect] Abid Malhi will also be arrested soon and brought to justice’, according to the statement.

Brother-in-law of Waqarul Hassan, allege co-accused in the gang-rape case, also on Monday surrendered himself before the police.

According to police, Abbas was in contact with the main accused of the case. On the other hand, the police claimed to have arrested two relatives of Abid. It was learnt that the arrests were made after startling revelations of Waqarul Hassan, the co-accused who surrendered himself to police Sunday. In his initial statement, the accused had refused his involvement in the gang-rape incident and added that he had nothing to do with the incident. He had claimed that his brother-in-law was using his mobile phone.

After refusal to accept his involvement in the case, the police on Sunday had collected samples of Waqarul Hassan for a DNA test. The Crimes Investigation Agency (CIA) police had sent the samples for DNA test and forensic examination to the laboratory. The officials said that the DNA results will be matched with the samples collected from the crime scene. The test results will prove the suspect’s innocence or involvement in the heinous crime, said a police official.