Hang child rapists in public: Pak House panel

Islamabad: A Pakistani parliamentary body Wednesday approved a Bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Criminal Procedure 

Code (CrPC) to punish criminals convicted for abduction and rape of children under the age of 14 with public execution.

The Senate Standing Committee on interior headed by senator Rehman Malik proposed amendment to the existing punishments to include the words “by hanging publicly” after the word “death” after widespread calls for publicly hanging the suspect arrested in rape and murder case of a minor in Kasur.

Chairman of the Committee Senator Rehman Malik of Pakistan People’s Party said that the killer must be given exemplary punishment to deter future commission of such heinous crimes. He requested the Senate secretariat to relax rules to take up the Bill before the ongoing Senate session ends.

Interestingly, the Senate committee’s recommendations were the consequence of its deliberations focused on the Zainab Ansari case. This horrific incident has shaken the entire society and compelled the lawmakers to review the present systems in order to check the growing incidents of rape and murder of innocent young children, both girls and boys, in the country.

 A slide showing a picture of Imran Ali suspected of being a serial killer responsible for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old Zainab Ansari is shown at a news conference in Lahore, Pakistan January 23, 2018.

 Upset by the Kasur incident, there has been growing demand to hang the killer(s) of the innocent child in public. Although, some human rights activists are opposed to the public hanging of culprits involved in heinous crime, this is not only in accordance with the teachings of Islam but also the most effective way of creating deterrence in the society.

 Statement of objective for the proposed amendment as endorsed by the Senate committee admitted: “Fear of punishment could prevent others from committing a similar crime. It is expedient to amend the PPC to make offender dreadful for other offenders who commit the offences related to kidnapping or abducting or raping and murdering a child under the age of fourteen years.”

The committee had also passed a resolution strongly condemning abductions, rapes and murders of innocent minor children across the country and condemned the murder of Zainab Ansari in Kasur and Asma in Mardan. On the special invitation and arrangements of the committee, the aggrieved parents of Zainab Ansari had also attended the meeting. The resolution along with the proposed amendment to the Section 364A of the PPC was sent to the House.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, opposition Leader in National Assembly Khurshid Shah expressed anger over Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for clapping during a news conference after arresting Zainab Ansari’s murderer.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the leader asked whether clapping over this heinous crime is justified, adding that 1100 children have fallen prey to such incidents so far in Punjab. “No investigation was launched in cases reported during 2016 and 2017,” he added.