The UAE News web report: The Pakistan government is set to promulgate an ordinance to introduce strict punishments for rapists and sex offenders including the death penalty and chemical castration, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Dr Farogh Naseem said on Tuesday.
While talking to reporters at the Law Ministry, Naseem said since the parliament was not in session, an ordinance will be promulgated to “toughen the laws” against rapists.
“The penalties include death penalty, imprisonment for [the] entire life, 10 to 25 years of imprisonment and chemical castration,” a statement by the law ministry quoted him as saying.
The minister said an offender could be subjected to chemical castration that would last either “for some time or for life”.
The chances of chemical castration will increase for repeat offenders, Naseem said, adding that “similar laws [are] in place in the United States and other countries.”
The idea of severe penalities was first floated by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had said during a television interview in September that rapists should either be hanged publicly or chemically castrated to curb rising sex crimes.
His statement had come in the wake of the motorway gang-rape incident that caused an outpouring of anger across the country and brought sexual violence against women into national focus.
After an incident involving the alleged rape of a woman and her minor daughter in Sindh’s Kashmore district, the premier earlier this month announced that the government would bring a “stringent and holistic anti-rape ordinance closing all loopholes”.
The Law Minister said a registry of sex offenders will also be maintained by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) which will help in apprehending the perpetrators of sex crimes.
He added that the people “need to play an important role by pointing out sex offenders and rapists around them”, according to the statement.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz told a press conference earlier on Tuesday that the federal cabinet had given in-principle approval to the ordinance, which he said was likely to be finalised by next week.
