Daily Times

The country has not even begun to digest the heart churning story of the motorway gang rape yet the news cycle is already flush with reports of two suspects confessing to raping and killing a minor girl in Karachi. It turns out that the six-year-old girl, who had gone to fetch sweets from a market in the corner of the street where she lived, but was kidnapped and gang raped, then killed, her body burnt and put in a bag before being dumped in a garbage pile somewhere. The situation is made all the more unacceptable because of reports, once again, that the poor girl fell victim to a habitual offender residing on the same street.

How is it that these so called habitual offenders are able to not just roam freely but also feel confident enough to keep indulging in these habits? What is so wrong with our legal system and what on earth will it take to put it right once and for all? How many times will everybody have to hear the explanation that these people are able to commit these crimes so freely because they know that usually there is very little chance that they are going to get caught. And even in the rare case that they are, there are enough loopholes in the system for even habitual offenders, who keep committing the same crime over and over again, to be able to walk free. Even the motorway case offender was caught so quickly because the police had his DNA records in their database; which means he too is a repeat offender who is aided by the system to keep repeating the offence.

The prime minister has promised that the culprits in the motorway attack would feel the full force of the law. But, welcome as that ought to be in normal times, it is not going to be enough anymore. While there is an urgent need for the law to take its course, and be seen taking its course, what we need now is far more comprehensive than just crime and punishment. We must ask ourselves one basic and simple question: How is it that so many countries in the world have been able to overcome this and similar problems? And why is rape such a big problem in countries like India and Pakistan? The predominant narrative has changed very quickly from concerns like the economy and people’s livelihoods to rape, especially the safety of the vulnerable. And the people are going to judge the government for the reforms it is able or unable to introduce. *