The Plight of a Rape Survivor

The discussion in this paper revolves around the prevalence of rape cases in Pakistan, with specific focus on the area of Southern Punjab. The main issues under consideration are: the high number of rape cases in a scenario which witnesses a low report and conviction rate; the way state institutions deal with assault victims, which exposes them to undignified, if not cruel, treatment; and the societal perception that a large number of cases are falsely reported as rape. The paper will look into the laws in Pakistan penalizing rape and similar Islamic provisions on the matter. The historical and anthropological views of the offence will also be looked at. Original research has been conducted for this paper which has been coupled with other resources to present the paper’s conclusions. The final recommendations argue that Pakistani laws against rape, notwithstanding amendments made in the last decade, still need to be improved to allow adequate relief for victims of rape and effective deterrent for perpetrators. Concurrently, it is maintained that the real obstacle to effective legal prosecution of rape is the societal take on female sexuality and honour, which affects the way rape crimes are reported to and prosecuted by the police and other state institutions.

Noor Zafar is a graduate of the B.A. LLB (Hons) programme of the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), Lahore University of Management and Sciences (LUMS).
All pre-submission editing for the paper was done by Marva Khan, who holds an L.L.M. from Harvard University and is a member of faculty at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), Lahore University of Management and Sciences (LUMS).