To do legislation through ordinances has always been questionable, however noble a purpose they may purportedly serve. Hence, the government’s move to bring out two ordinances to change the definition of rape and introduce unorthodox punishments like castration through chemical should be taken with a pinch of salt. Details of the ordinances are yet to be made public but lawmakers have started pouring out their opinions on these in the media, creating more confusion than clarity. So far, it is clear that the government calls it a ‘big decision’ to get through a cabinet meeting “Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance 2020 and Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2020”. The ordinances will do away with the controversial ‘two-finger’ test to test virginity of rape survivors. This test has long been criticized and was equal to adding insult to injury. Hardly acknowledged is the fact that rape survivors are abused many times after rape. They have to go through tough legal procedures to prove the crime. Second, they have to live through the stigma the society attaches with them. Male or female, rape becomes their identity once they endure it. Then come the merchants of their misery in the garb of sympathizers. Different outfits compile rape data in their reports and present themselves as a solution to this social ill to national and international donors. They visit houses of the victims and get photo-ops. But the cruel reality remains that the victims continue suffering while these groups continue flourishing. There has to be awakening at the state level to stop turning this misery into a merchandise for any entity. In the past two years, over a thousand cases of rape or sexual abuse have been reported. The gang rape on the Motorway was the worst case to happen. But in this case, the victim took care of preserving her privacy otherwise the media and other groups would have put her on camera to attract an audience. As for castration through chemicals, it is an unorthodox idea and Prime Minister Imran Khan had first introduced it. Legal minds need to be applied on identifying precedent and affectivity of this method. On the face of it, such ordinances look like a ploy to give the opposition a tough time as they are meant to earn the government popularity more than anything else. *