Following a string of violence against women and children, rapists who are convicted for repeat offenses will be subject to chemical castration. 

The legislation was approved by lawmakers. It will allow faster convictions, thanks to the creation of special courts that can quickly track cases of sexual assault. 

Chemical castration refers to the administration of testosterone-reducing medication. This method has been in use for paedophiles and child rapists in Indonesia and Poland since 2016.  

This decision was made in response to public outcry about an increase in the rapes of women in Pakistan, as well as ineffective prosecution and investigation in these cases.

Rapists convicted of repeat offences will face chemical castration in Pakistan after the parliament (pictured) passed a new anti-rape law following a spate of attacks on women and children in the country

Following a string of violence against women and children, rapists who are convicted of repeated offenses will be subject to chemical castration in Pakistan.

Pakistan has brought in new laws that will see some rapists chemically castrated following public outcry against sexual violence in the country. Pictured: people protest after the gang rape of a woman in Lahore in September 2020

Following public protests against the use of sexual violence in Pakistan, Pakistan introduced new laws to allow some rapists to be chemically castrated. People protest following the September 2020 gang rape that took place in Lahore.

The legislation forms a series of measures which aims to tackle sexual in a country where it is rife – including the creation of a national sex offenders register and the protection of victims’ identities.   

Additionally, the bill states that the government will establish fast track courts nationwide to hear rape cases. The judges must reach a decision within four months. 

In public hospitals, anti-rape emergency cells will be established. Victims can report their attack and request a doctor’s examination within hours.    

Gang rape convictions will result in a death sentence or imprisonment for life. Recurring offenders might be sent to chemical castingration. 

After Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Cabinet approved the legislation, President Arif Alvi signed it in December 2013. 

However, the National Assembly voted on Wednesday to make the measure a permanent law. 

The protests following September’s gang-rape at Lahore by a woman led to outrage and demonstrations throughout the country, prompting the government in promising that it would take action.

A pair of attackers pulled the French mother out of her vehicle, which was abandoned at night near the city. They then gang-raped her while her children watched. Both men were later arrested.

While she was on her way with her children, the petrol in her car ran out. She called for assistance but was dragged from the vehicle and raped by the two men, Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali.

Protests broke out after Umar Sheikh, the chief investigator of the investigation, suggested that the victim was the woman. He said she should have driven on a busy road in the morning and checked her fuel before leaving.

A Pakistani court sentenced two men to death for their gang rape in March.

Hafiz Asghar the Prosecutionist said that Ali and Malhi were convicted in the Lahore Prison.  

Arshad Hussain Bohutta sentenced them to 14 year imprisonment. They must serve this time before they can be executed.  There are chances of appeals or commutations.

In March, two men were sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for the gang rape of a woman in front of her children in Lahore

Two Pakistani men were sentenced by a court to death in March for gangrape of a Lahore woman.

Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta (pictured arriving at the district jail) also sentenced the men to 14 years imprisonment, time that must be served before any executions can take place

The men were also sent to 14 years in prison by Judge Arshad Hussain Bhuta, who arrived at the district jail. This is the minimum time required before executions are possible

In Pakistan, nearly 1000 women die each year from sexual harassment or violence. 

But, ineffective prosecution and investigation of rape case are not uncommon in a country with widespread gender-based and sexual violence against women. Critics claim that less than 4 percent of sexual assault and rape cases in Pakistan are convicted.

Women fear that they may be persecuted and shamed by the police if they speak out. 

Amnesty International criticised last year the Pakistani government for introducing chemical castration as punishment for repeat offenders. 

Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia Campaigner of Amnesty International, said: ‘Forced chemical castrations would violate Pakistan’s international and constitutional obligations to prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 

“Punishments such as this won’t fix the flawed criminal justice system. Instead of trying deflecting attention, authorities need to focus on reforms that address the root causes sexual violence. They will give survivors justice and protect them. 

Since 2018, Pakistan’s rape incidents have increased since Zainab Ansari, a serial killer who raped her six year old daughter in Kasur (Punjabi province), was murdered.

National protests erupted over the case and Imran Ali was eventually sentenced to die and hanged. 

On August 1, horrifying footage was released showing a young girl being raped and sexually assaulted in Lahore by hundreds of men. This happened on Pakistan’s independence Day. 

Harrowing video taken by onlookers shows a horde of men pulling and pushing the woman, who was filming videos for social media platform TikTok at the Minar-e-Pakistan monument in the Greater Iqbal Park with six companions.

They separated her from her friends, robbed her money, jewelry and her mobile phone. Then they tossed her into the air and pulled her clothing off, before going after her. 

The Inspector General stated that at least 66 suspects had been identified so far and were taken into police custody for questioning. In addition, two officers who are accused of negligence in the investigation have been suspended.

This grainy video shows the woman being pulled off a wall by the man at the center of the frame before she is pulled into the crowd.

A total of 66 suspects have been identified and taken in by police for questioning so far

So far, police have identified and interrogated 66 suspects

According to a report from the Lorry Adda police station in Lahore, the victim told police officers: ‘People were pushing and pulling me to the extent that they tore my clothes. 

“Several people attempted to help me, but they were too many and kept throwing me into the air.” 

In 2020, Pakistan was near the bottom of the World Economic Forum´s global gender index, coming in at 153 of 156 countries, ahead of only Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan. 

According to Human Rights Watch, the findings were made after data from hotlines for domestic violence in Pakistan revealed a 20% increase in violence against women between January and March 2013. 

In 2018, a 6-year old girl was raped and murdered in Pakistan. This sparked outrage throughout Pakistan

Zainab Ansari, six, was raped and murdered by a serial killer in Kasur, east Pakistan, in 2018

In 2018, six-year old Zainab was raped, and then murdered, by Kasur’s serial killer.

Six-year old Zainab was brutally murdered in 2018. This sparked anger in Pakistan, which saw an increase of cases of rape.

Her body was left in a rubbish dump in Kasur, east Pakistan, by serial killer  Imran Ali, 24, who was later sentenced to death and hanged.

In January, she was taken as soon as she went to Koran classes. 

CCTV footage captured her being taken away by the suspect, five days prior to her discovery of her body in a garbage heap a quarter mile from her house.

Ali was taken into custody by an angry mob. He was sentenced to death in October after confessing to the murder of six girls and was also arrested.

He was executed at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison.

This case is one of many brutal gang rapes or murders that have been reported in the United States over the past few years. 

In April last year, a woman who was gang-raped in Uch Sharif accused a police officer of raping her in a further attack when she went to report the crime. He was eventually arrested.

A transgender person from Kamalia was dragged out of a car before being tortured and raped by two men later that year.

Four transgender people, from Kamalia in Pakistan, were booked for a festival show at the Mai Maseet Wali Mela near the village Dhoop Sari, on September 20.

The group was driving towards Jhang, when 5 men stopped them and took one member of their party to a farmhouse nearby. It was around 2am. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for violent sex offenders to be hanged or chemically castrated amid outcry over the gang rape of a woman in the country in September this year

Imran Khan of Pakistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has demanded the execution or chemical castration of violent sex offenders amid the outcry about the gang-rape of a Pakistani woman on September 1st.

One of the passengers was raped by two men while three armed guards watched.

The victim was later dropped 20 kilometres away in Sahiwal, where they were then collected by colleague Binyamin who was at the festival venue.

Binyamin said that the pair reported Harappa’s incident to police, who were “reluctant” to investigate the matter.

Five suspects were arrested by police and two others were named.

Recent reports indicate that a 14 year-old girl, who had been repeatedly raped at her uncle’s house, died from an abortion after six months of pregnancy.

The girl, identified by local media as Uzma, began living with her maternal aunt and her husband Ghulam Anwar.

A vehicle carries Abid Malhi, one of the suspects in the gang rape of a woman on a desolate highway, following his court appearance in Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday, October 13, 2020

A car transports Abid Malhi (one of the suspects involved in the gang rape a women on a desolate road), following his appearance at Lahore in Pakistan on Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Uzma was pregnant, and she died September after being raped repeatedly by Anwar.

Okara police arrested him and his wife in October, after Uzma’s father filed a complaint.

In the same month, two men were arrested for the gang rape of a woman in front of her children on a motorway Lahore.

Abid Malhi, who was raped in September and had been on the run for a month before being finally caught by police.

The other suspect, Shafqat Ali,  was arrested a week after the assault.

The police had previously stated that the woman locked her doors after running out of petrol in Punjab province, Lahore being the capital. They then dialled for help. 

Two men broke her car’s window, then took her outside to rape her.

This attack stunned Pakistani women rights activists and galvanized them to fight for their rights. Umar Sheikh (a top Punjab police officer) blamed the victim because she was alone in her car at night with her children, and that she ran out of fuel. 

On November 10, Rafiq Malik was arrested for the kidnapping and gang-raping of a mother and her four-year-old daughter in Kashmore, a district in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

The police continue their search for the two other accomplices.