Yet another rape, another murder and the body disposed off like a piece of garbage! Was the seven-year-old at fault for going to the local store to do her daily groceries? Were the clothes she was wearing too revealing? Lots of questions, but unfortunately, no answers! Another statistic, another crime and the story continues…
Sargodha was witness to another heinous crime, when a seven-year-old was raped and murdered ruthlessly, because the child’s father had had a rift with the owner of the grocery store and had promised to teach him a lesson. The lesson was swift and deadly, as the little girl was sexually assaulted, before being killed and the body discarded in a corner of the storage area on the third floor. The culprit was later killed in a police encounter, while some of his accomplices managed to escape.
Human beings have short memories and this will soon become another statistic in the history books. Should these culprits be awarded capital punishment and be hanged in public to be made an example of? Or maybe a long drawn out painful end is preferable to a brutal and swift one? Whatever the verdict, stricter punitive measures need to be taken and the perpetrators need to be dealt with in a befitting manner. However, as Shakespeare said, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip, so this is easier said than done in the Land of the Pure!
Victim shaming is quite common in incidents of rape and generally, the women are blamed for enticing the rapist, as they are considered soft targets and convenient scapegoats. Very few rapists are convicted as the play Case No 9 depicted, for crimes like rape are difficult to prove and the victims are often pressurised to keep quiet for the sake of family honour. If they do muster up the courage to approach the authorities, the invasive and direct questioning acts as a huge deterrent and the majority end up retreating into the shadows. Social pressures become overwhelming and the stigma attached to rape discourages victims from stepping forward and reporting the crime.
What about children? When girls as young as three are brutally assaulted, who shoulders the blame in that case? In this case, the victim cannot be accused of enticing and attracting the rapist to rape her, so that logic fails and that argument falls flat on its face. Rape is more about power and control, than anything else and a weapon to subjugate and suppress the fairer sex.
Women are also supposed to be the sole carriers of the family honour, so rape is closely associated with honour killings. In the Sargodha case, the owner of the grocery store avenged himself by abusing the seven-year-old in an effort to get even with her father, as an attack on her meant an assault on the family honour. No wonder, the fairer sex ends up with the shorter end of the stick in this patriarchal and regressive society of ours, where family honour is inextricably linked to them. A number of television productions have highlighted the enormity and severity of these honour killings, with the epicentre being Southern Punjab, where these are shockingly very common.
Laws need to be strictly enforced in these cases; in fact, capital punishment for monstrous crimes of this nature should be applied. While there are naysayers who believe that violence is not the answer, the rate at which these despicable acts are gaining traction and becoming increasingly common, calls for drastic measures. These barbaric acts can only be curbed through the enforcement of stringent laws and stricter punitive measures, so capital punishment should be permitted in such cases.
A lawless and corrupt society like ours calls for desperate measures to be adopted, so that these young, innocent children can be protected against such brutal acts of violence and inhumanity. In fact, a study carried out suggested that in most cases, the perpetrators of these crimes are trusted family members, rather than outsiders. These madrassas are also breeding grounds for such crimes, where young boys and girls are sexually assaulted and then threatened with dire consequences, if they dare to open their mouths.
A lot continues to be written about such horrific acts against humanity, but when are these young, innocent children going to get justice? In a country where the population is like a volcano about to erupt, the majority of these young lives are mere statistics for the textbooks in the curricula at educational institutions. The Land of the Pure will continue to be a witness to such barbaric crimes, until the wheels of justice are set in motion and nothing and no one is spared. Accountability is a must and the reprisal in such cases must be swift and deadly to send out a clear message to the masses.
Gaitee Ara Siddiqi
2 Kashmir Rd
Lahore
Tel: 0092 305 6104252
The writer is an educationist and can be reached at gaiteeara@hotmail.com.
