The common session of the Pakistan Parliament on Wednesday approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2021, which seeks to discipline habitual rapers by chemical castration, amending the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed protested over the bill and nominated itun-Islamic and against Sharia. He, according to reports, said a robber should be hanged intimately, but there was no citation of castration in Sharia.
What is chemical castration?
As the Bill defines, chemical castration is a process where a person is rendered unable of performing sexual intercourse for any period of his life, as may be determined by the court. The process is done through medicines which shall be conducted through a notified medical board In 2020, President Arif Alvi inked theAnti-Rape Constitution 2020 which allowed chemical castration. In a draft, it was before decided that the perpetrator’s concurrence would be needed for the procedure. The final constitution of 2020 finalised that the decision will be of the judge. The period can range from six months to life.
The Bill also provides for the establishment of special courts and the use of ultramodern bias during the disquisition.
In an interview last time, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said though he believes that rapers should be hanged intimately, it would not be an internationally accepted process and hence Pakistan was considering chemical castration.”I suppose he (the robber) should be hanged intimately. Rapers and child muggers should have public fall. You don’t know the real statistics as well, because it’s under- reported. People don’t report it due to being spooked or shamed, women are shamed, no bone wants to tell,”Imran Khan had said in 2020, as reported by CNN.
The penalty of chemical castration is considered cruel and inhuman by Amnesty International.” Rather of trying to redirect attention, the authorities should concentrate on the pivotal work of reforms that will address the root causes of sexual violence and give survivors the justice they earn,”Amnesty said in an earlier statement.
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