The judicial magistrate of Lahore trial court on Monday extended the physical remand of five accused men charged for the abduction of four girls from Lahore. The court ordered the DNA testing of one of the four girls. Lahore Police confirmed that the kidnappers were about to sell these girls for prostitution.
Five of the suspects in the kidnapping case namely Qasim, Naeem, Shahzad, Kashif, and Asif are being kept on physical remand for two days till the DNA testing of the victims was done. Lahore Police investigation provides that the accused men who kidnapped the girls took them to Sahiwal where the police recovered the victims.
Read more: Child, 8, kidnapped, raped and murdered in Hangu, KPK
The Lahore Police Investigation Officer Farzana claimed that the medical report of one girl named Ayesha was suspicious and evidence of her being raped could not be ignored.
لاہور: ہنجروال سے 4 لڑکیوں کے اغوا کا کیس#92NewsHDPlus #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/WoCTHUogFN
— 92 News HD Plus (@92newschannel) August 10, 2021
The surge in kidnapping and violence against female cases
Such stories and incidences have haunted our society for a long time. In the year 2020, there has been a 4% increase in cases concerning child abuse such as kidnapping, sexual assaults, forced marriages, and missing children.
As many as eight children were abused every day in Pakistan in one form or the other. There are at least 11 rape cases reported in Pakistan every day with over 22,000 rape cases reported to police across the country in the last six years, according to official statistics.
However, only 77 accused have been convicted which comprise 0.3% of the total figure. These statistics are obtained from the Police, Law, and Justice Commission of Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Women’s Foundation, and provincial welfare agencies.
Read more: Student gang-raped at Islamabad university in shocking incident
Such instances do nothing but further tear apart our social fabric making society less secure for the children. Children who are the torchbearers of our society continuously live under the threat of abduction and rape.
I urge people to channel their emotions towards addressing the problem of child abuse in Pakistan, sad fact that every day,more than 11 children report sexual abuse.We must come together and fight for the rights of children.. @SarahAhmad_PTI #saynotochildabuse pic.twitter.com/zdyvk84i4b
— Ahsan Khan (@Ahsankhanuk) August 3, 2021
Managing these cases with efficacy
Although the Lahore police have taken prompt action, there is still a lot that needs to be done. As very young girls and women continue to get raped and abducted due to inexplicable regularities in our country, it is unfortunate that there hasn’t been any step to sponsor any study or research that highlights the causes of assaults on young girls or have made any attempt to educate the people as a mechanism of protecting the victims.
In this respect, what is needed is structural reforms in criminal justice systems, strengthening the rule of law and opening avenues for studying the nature of crime from diverse and all-encompassing perspectives instead of proposing the death penalty that is already present in the law.
Read more: PTI govt grants Rs.100 Million for Anti-Rape Law Fund
And more than that what is extremely significant is to eradicate the myopic roots of patriarchy and suppression that have haunted the lives of female counterparts. In this regard, the state institutions need to play a crucial role to establish gender equality otherwise all spasmodic efforts to protect women will go in vain.