Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government will soon introduce a three-tier legislation providing for registration of sex offenders, exemplary punishment for rape and child abuse and effective policing. Imran Khan made the announcement while addressing a joint sitting of parliament after passage of a number of Financial Action Task Force-related bills Wednesday.
“Such incidents ruin the lives of victims and their families also have to suffer,” Khan was quoted as saying by the ‘Dawn’ newspaper. The Pakistani prime minister was referring to the gang-rape of a French-Pakistani woman in front of her three children near a highway in Lahore September 9. The incident sparked widespread outrage in Pakistan.
One of the suspects wanted in the case was arrested Monday arrested and confessed to his crime.
Noting that the main suspect in the gang-rape case was a history-sheeter, Khan said that global data indicated that such criminals were repeat offenders and therefore maintaining their data was important. He said the legislation being prepared would not only provide for exemplary punishment for rape and child abuse offences, but would also contain provisions for registration of sex offenders and effective policing, the report said.
Khan admitted that only a very small percentage of such rape and child abuse cases were reported to police in Pakistan.
Even after the arrest of offenders in rape and child abuse cases, their conviction is not easy in absence of proper prosecution and concrete evidence. For this reason, the bill being prepared would also provide for witness protection, he said.