Of the 383 sexual assault cases reported in hospitals across Karachi last year, FIRs were registered against only 27.67 per cent of the cases. This was revealed in a report released by War Against Rape (WAR).The 2014 factsheet reveals that the three major hospitals of the city, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Civil Hospital, Karachi, and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital conducted 383 medico-legal examinations (MLEs) in sexual assault cases that include rape, gang-rape, sodomy and incest. The data for the same period collected from the 112 police stations in the city shows that only 106 FIRs were registered. The situation was almost the same in the previous year when only 109 FIRs were registered against 370 cases of sexual abuse, reported at hospitals.In the 45 cases investigated by WAR, it found that the age group most vulnerable to sexual assault was between five and 13 years. Around 22 percent of the cases were of rape, while an equal number were of gang-rape. Nineteen per cent of the cases were of sodomy, nine per cent each of attempted rape and rape with murder, and seven per cent were of incest. Sexual violence against women & children is on the increase because Pakistan justice system is too slow & ineffective to provide exemplary verdicts which will act as a deterrent. Pakistan society believes that rape & incest are crimes committed in the western societies & very few cases actually happen in Pakistan. This is one of the main reasons that NPO NGOs like War Against Rape (WAR) receive only about 5 to 10 per cent of their donations from individuals or corporations in Pakistan.We have to realize that sexual violence against women & children is prevalent here, It is our problem, we have to face & solve it by coming forward & supporting the work of NGOs like WAR, so that the survivors can have their day in court & the culprits of this most heinous of crimes are convicted.Such reports come out every year, but unfortunately do not have the kind of hard-hitting impact they should. This is the value that we, as a society, give to human life, the importance we give to those most vulnerable to sexual violence. This is a reflection of how indifferent we are to the physical and psychological trauma that countless people go through. What are we doing as a society, as a state, to stop this? Does widespread sexual abuse even factor in as a societal concern? Are we having the necessary conversations in our homes to save our children? These are questions we must ask ourselves.
pk.shafaqna.com
