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Anger as Pakistan court frees rapist after he agrees deal to marry his victim
Dawlat Khan had received a life sentence for the rape of a young deaf woman but a council of elders intervened to offer a compromise
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A woman holds a sign saying 'Justice for rape victims' at a protest in Karachi in September 2020.
Rights groups have been angered by the decision as they feel it legitimises sexual violence in a country where the majority of rape cases still go unreported Photograph: Shahzaib Akber/EPA
Haroon Janjua in Islamabad
@JanjuaHaroon
Fri 30 Dec 2022 09.22 EST
Last modified on Thu 5 Jan 2023 01.38 EST
A court in Pakistan has caused outrage after it freed a convicted rapist when he agreed to marry his victim. (Did anybody consult the victim? my question)
Dawlat Khan, 25, had been sentenced to life imprisonment in May by the district court of Buner, in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, for the rape of a young deaf woman. After an intervention by the area jirga, or council of elders, a deal was struck between Khan and the family of the woman, who had a child as a result of the attack. Khan was released on Monday after the deal was accepted by the Peshawar high court. The parties have patched up the matter by the intervention of the relative and elder of the family members, which is in the best interest of the parties. The compromise was affected in the best interest of the child and his mother being a special person, read the court document.
. . .
The decision has angered rights groups and activists who say it legitimises sexual violence against women in Pakistan where the majority of rape cases go unreported. Those that are reported are difficult to prosecute in Pakistan, according to Asma Jahangir of Legal Aid Cell, a group supporting vulnerable women. The conviction rate is low less than 3% according the Karachi-based NGO War Against Rape.Threats and coercion by family and society in rape cases are commonplace, and survivors and family generally settle the matter outside court fearing the stigma of a trial.
Pakistani human rights activist Tahira Abdullah expressed her outrage and condemnation at the outcome, especially the inhumanity of forcing a disabled woman to marry her rapist. Pakistan rape laws must be amended to change rape from a private crime against a person to a crime against the state, whereby the state should become the wali (protector) of the survivor and should prosecute the case in order to prevent any form of private compromise, financial settlement, or forgiveness which is forced by rich influential people against the poor and powerless and is always unjust to the raped person.
Usama Malik, a human rights lawyer, said it was an alarming decision by the court. Allowing the appeal has admitted that rape is a non-compoundable offence, has accepted the compromise decision of a local tribal council that comprises males only, he said.
. . . . .
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/dec/30/pakistan-court-frees-rapist-after-he-agrees-deal-to-marry-his-victim
chowder66
(9,074 posts)brooklynite
(94,626 posts)Never understood why RW Christians have such issues with fundamentalist Muslims?
niyad
(113,464 posts)niyad
(113,464 posts)Elessar Zappa
(14,016 posts)niyad
(113,464 posts)JI7
(89,254 posts)niyad
(113,464 posts)Genki Hikari
(1,766 posts)If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
--Deuteronomy 22:28-29
And it's upheld by a certain deity in Matthew 5:17-18:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
What law do you think he meant? Roman? Hardly!
You can bet that the r thugs want to make that abomination is the law here in the US as well.
niyad
(113,464 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)the court's decision, they arranging the marriage with her rapist and then presenting it to the court. Guessing it was thought unlikely another husband would come along for this unmarried 36yo "special" person and her child.
The personal context includes that they are both members of an extended family, and the families reached an agreement once paternity by a 23yo member was proven after the baby's birth. Wonder who brought the police in. Her? This is a horrible judicial decision, but regarding her and her child, hopefully the families will take good care of them.
niyad
(113,464 posts)BlueWaveNeverEnd
(7,987 posts)niyad
(113,464 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,438 posts)niyad
(113,464 posts)women. As much as I do know about it, I still get enraged.