Bahawalpur court awards death sentence to four men for gang-raping girl during robbery

LAHORE – A local court on Wednesday sentenced four men to death over the gang rape of a student during robbery in Bahawalpur.

Reports in local media said the Additional District and Sessions Judge handed down the death sentence on two counts. The young woman was gang-raped by a group of four men in front of her family in Bahawalpur district earlier in January this year.

According to the FIR filed by the victim’s family, the group of armed men broke into the house and sexually assaulted the young woman in front of the family.

The attack and the subsequent demands for better protection of women prompted the government to introduce stern legislation, including the establishment of special courts to speed up rape trials.

The sexual abuse victims are often afraid to speak out and criminal complaints are frequently not investigated seriously.

‘Un-Islamic’ – Pakistan drops chemical castration as punishment to repeat sex offenders 

According to official statistics, around 11 rape incidents are reported in the South Asian country every day with over 22,000 cases filed across the country in the last six years however, only 0.05 percent of the accused have been convicted.

Last month, Pakistan removed a clause from a new anti-rape law that had allowed for the chemical castration of repeat rapists. The Islamic Council of Ideology had objected to the punishment of chemical castration for rapists for being an un-Islamic practice.