Aamna shall die at her own hands it couldn't be her plan of life. But for reasons beyond her control rather early in her life came that defining moment. She walked up to the Mir Hazar Khan police station, set herself on fire and died a day later with her body 80 percent burnt. She was kidnapped and raped by a gang on her way home back from the college where she was a First Year student, and a brilliant one. She had her case registered in the police station nominating the rapists - a miracle in the life of an ordinary Pakistani where police would be so very evasive. Her case was strong and the police couldn't refuse. Or, perhaps the perpetrators of the heinous crime were too confident of their clout, they just didn't bother and police was left with no other option. They arrested the accused nominated in the FIR. Her complacence that her case is in the hands of custodians of lives of us the mortals was short-lived, however. The police changed the FIR and turned rape into attempt to rape - a substitution lapped up by Rana Sanaullah sahib hook, line and sinker.
Aamna met Mukhtaran Mai and the two went over to the police station to protest the distortion, but of no avail, resigning Mai to believe that money had worked its way to the police. But Aamna was not discouraged; she kept visiting and protesting - until she came across the fork in her way. The main culprit was bailed out by the court because the case was too weak to keep the accused in detention any further. She went over to the police station again to protest but was laughed at. She had to decide whether to live with the shame or leave the place so much fertile for growth of unpunished rapists.
In 2013 alone, some 370 women were raped and murdered. That makes more than one unpunished rape for every day of the year. Aamna decided not to be on that list, but go her own way. And she decided to end her life. What followed; we are familiar with this pantomime. Police officers have been suspended, suo motu notice has been taken by the highest court in the country, legislators walked out of the Punjab Assembly and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif flew over to her place and offered condolence to her family. Nothing wrong with all this, but is all that was needed to be done has been done. No, the government and the people have got to move on to the next obvious goal of securing our women's life and honour from the regular forays of these wolves. There must be a change, both in the attitude and behaviour of the officers at the police stations and updating of law dealing with the cases of rape.
Every complaint of rape must be registered as FIR without any loss of time; the FIR should be read out in front of the complainant, and its authenticated copy should be dispatched to district police officer the same day. The alleged rapist should be arrested as quickly as possible and should remain in detention till the end of the case. We must remember barring a very few exceptions no woman would turn up at the police station to complain rape unless there is truth to her statement. And the medical report must carry the examiners' finding on the DNA recovered from the body of the victim. Pity, there is resistance to treat identification as exclusive evidence, making it difficult for the courts to sentence rapists whose skill tends to flourish in the shadows. No wonder, many a rape victim does not come to the police station, fearful of the possibility that while they may earn shame for their families, the rapist would go scot-free. So, now that the government and legislators are profoundly concerned and Chief Justice of Pakistan says Aamna died protesting unmet justice to the accused, time has arrived for anti-rape legislation carrying stiffer penalty and drastically-upgraded definition of required evidence including greater weight to the DNA test report. This the government and the society owe to Aamna.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Pakistan's Rape Victim: Aamna is dead, long live Aamna
Aamna shall die at her own hands it couldn't be her plan of life. But for reasons beyond her control rather early in her life came that defining moment. She walked up to the Mir Hazar Khan police station, set herself on fire and died a day later with her body 80 percent burnt. She was kidnapped and raped by a gang on her way home back from the college where she was a First Year student, and a brilliant one. She had her case registered in the police station nominating the rapists - a miracle in the life of an ordinary Pakistani where police would be so very evasive. Her case was strong and the police couldn't refuse. Or, perhaps the perpetrators of the heinous crime were too confident of their clout, they just didn't bother and police was left with no other option. They arrested the accused nominated in the FIR. Her complacence that her case is in the hands of custodians of lives of us the mortals was short-lived, however. The police changed the FIR and turned rape into attempt to rape - a substitution lapped up by Rana Sanaullah sahib hook, line and sinker.
Aamna met Mukhtaran Mai and the two went over to the police station to protest the distortion, but of no avail, resigning Mai to believe that money had worked its way to the police. But Aamna was not discouraged; she kept visiting and protesting - until she came across the fork in her way. The main culprit was bailed out by the court because the case was too weak to keep the accused in detention any further. She went over to the police station again to protest but was laughed at. She had to decide whether to live with the shame or leave the place so much fertile for growth of unpunished rapists.
In 2013 alone, some 370 women were raped and murdered. That makes more than one unpunished rape for every day of the year. Aamna decided not to be on that list, but go her own way. And she decided to end her life. What followed; we are familiar with this pantomime. Police officers have been suspended, suo motu notice has been taken by the highest court in the country, legislators walked out of the Punjab Assembly and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif flew over to her place and offered condolence to her family. Nothing wrong with all this, but is all that was needed to be done has been done. No, the government and the people have got to move on to the next obvious goal of securing our women's life and honour from the regular forays of these wolves. There must be a change, both in the attitude and behaviour of the officers at the police stations and updating of law dealing with the cases of rape.
Every complaint of rape must be registered as FIR without any loss of time; the FIR should be read out in front of the complainant, and its authenticated copy should be dispatched to district police officer the same day. The alleged rapist should be arrested as quickly as possible and should remain in detention till the end of the case. We must remember barring a very few exceptions no woman would turn up at the police station to complain rape unless there is truth to her statement. And the medical report must carry the examiners' finding on the DNA recovered from the body of the victim. Pity, there is resistance to treat identification as exclusive evidence, making it difficult for the courts to sentence rapists whose skill tends to flourish in the shadows. No wonder, many a rape victim does not come to the police station, fearful of the possibility that while they may earn shame for their families, the rapist would go scot-free. So, now that the government and legislators are profoundly concerned and Chief Justice of Pakistan says Aamna died protesting unmet justice to the accused, time has arrived for anti-rape legislation carrying stiffer penalty and drastically-upgraded definition of required evidence including greater weight to the DNA test report. This the government and the society owe to Aamna.
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