9/1/2021 Why sexual abuse of children remains widely prevalent - Perspective - Herald

G hulam Nabi, a poor resident of Mohmand tribal district, pulled out a two-inch-
thick bundle of visiting cards from his pocket in front of television cameras and
asked what he could do with those. “People come and give me their visiting cards but
they cannot bring back my Farishta,” he said, referring to his 10-year-old daughter
who was found murdered in Islamabad’s Shahzad Town area last month.

Nabi asked people not to visit his house anymore. Otherwise he would be compelled
to leave his residence. It is a house of mourning but dignitaries come here to address
the news media, he said.

His words were a protest against a tragic pattern that cases of child sexual abuse
follow in Pakistan.

These cases take place every day, perhaps every hour. Despite this, we express our
surprise and disgust each time a case gets picked up, for whatever reasons, by the
media. All the well known personalities – whether politicians or those from non-
governmental organisations – suddenly start flocking at the victim’s house, in front of
the press clubs or inside television studios. And then nothing happens.

How could we have treated Nabi’s daughter differently from any other child abuse
victim?

A pretty Pashtun girl, she vanished on May 15. Her father went to a police station to
file a missing person report after she did not return home by that evening. The police
told him to wait. She might have eloped with somebody, they suggested. Her body
was found on May 20. Even then the police were reluctant to register a case. It was
only after her family and some political activists blocked a major intersection in
Islamabad that the case was registered.

By then, it was too late for Farishta and her parents. She was gone forever — like so
many other young victims of sexual abuse.

It did not have to be this way. If the police had acted like conscientious public
servants and taken immediate action upon her father’s complaint, she could have
been found alive. But it was not to be and we do not know if and when that will
change.

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9/1/2021 Why sexual abuse of children remains widely prevalent - Perspective - Herald

Sexual abuse of children exists in every society. Governments cannot be blamed if

and when it happens. But governments must be held answerable when police fail to
take appropriate and necessary action, when proper laws do not exist, when victims
of abuse are ridiculed and when no legal or judicial mechanism exists to handle such
cases sensitively.

In the absence of such mechanisms, these cases are handled so crudely that the
plight of the victims gets drowned in meaningless rhetoric and even more useless
processes and procedures.

Television channels invite experts, including psychologists, to offer analysis after

each such incident. The explanations these experts give usually range from the
existence of the internet to the spread of a liberal and modernised culture. Generally,
they also highlight the negative effects movies, television and co-education are
having on young minds. The victim’s dress, sexual suppression in the society, hatred
for strong women and the urge to control women in general — all are offered as
possible explanations.

I really do not know if these factors explain anything.

Take, for instance, the argument that a lack of outlets for sexual gratification is an
obvious reason for the prevalence of children’s sexual abuse. If that is the case, these
crimes should not be found in the West, particularly the Scandinavian countries and
the United States, which has a highly permissive culture in sexual matters. Yet
children are being sexually abused in the West as well.

Others may argue that recourse to religion is the best solution as it teaches one to
control sexual urges. Many students abused in madrasas and many children raped in
catholic churches may disagree with this argument. There is voyeurism even at the
shrines of Sufi saints.

In other words, it is not easy to control the sexual abuse of children though efforts
must be made to curtail its incidence.

One effective starting point to manage and prevent it is home: a lot depends on how
parents raise their children, teaching them how to respect others and why not to
violate the privacy of others. Simultaneously, children can be taught to refuse being
touched in a manner which makes them uneasy and uncomfortable.

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9/1/2021 Why sexual abuse of children remains widely prevalent - Perspective - Herald

Schools, obviously, are the next important place where children can be taught the
same thing in a more formal environment. In a limited manner, media, too, can do the
same thing.

Human rights activists protesting against child sexual abuse | White Star

Laws alone certainly do not offer a solution. In Pakistan’s case, they seem to be
allowing a bad situation turn worse. Two laws help illustrate how.

Abduction of any under-14 child leading to his or her murder or rape is punishable
with death under Section 364-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Section 376 of the same
code provides for death penalty in the event of a minor’s rape. The problem with the
two laws is clear: if the offence of sexual abuse is punishable by death, then an
offender aware of the law is more than likely to kill the victim. Since punishment for
both the crimes is same, the killing may help him remove the most potent witness
and the most incriminating piece of evidence against him.

Consider the case of a 22-year-old woman who was recently gang raped by four
people, including three policemen, in Rawalpindi when she was doing sehri in her car
in the small hours. After raping her and recording it on their mobile phones, the
culprits dumped her near a hostel she was living in. The woman was bold enough to
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9/1/2021 Why sexual abuse of children remains widely prevalent - Perspective - Herald

report the crime and identify her rapists. This would not have been possible if she
had been killed.

The lawmakers have obviously not pondered about the fact that making punishments
more stringent for sexual offenses does not prevent such crimes but, on the contrary,
endangers the lives of the victims.

In any case, stricter punishments – including hanging and beheading – are not the
best deterrence as many may think. What to talk of Pakistan, sexual offences are
widely prevalent even in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran where the death
sentence awarded to sexual offenders is carried out in public.

Opponents of the death penalty, additionally, argue that judicial systems and
investigation and prosecution mechanisms run by the states are prone to making
mistakes. But a death sentence once carried out is irreversible. This is true and,
therefore, stringent checks should be introduced in the investigation and trial of
cases involving the death penalty. It should be given in the rarest of the rare cases.

Of course, it does not mean that all punishments should be done away with since
they do not deter crime. On the other hand, they should be seen more as a
mechanism to provide justice rather than as a means to control and prevent crime.

Before we can start doing that, however, we must first recognise that our society has
scant regard for the rule of law. In such a society, legal and judicial means alone
cannot provide justice to children who suffer sexual abuse. In fact, some crimes
committed against them go even unnoticed because the society is careless in its
treatment of these victims. To give just one example, Section 376-A was inserted in
2016 in the Pakistan Penal Code to make it a punishable crime to print or publish the
name “or any matter which may make known [the] identity” of the victims of sexual
offences. Those who print and publish their names are liable to be punished with
three years in prison and some fine. Yet, this law is violated every day by all of us,
including the news media and the superior courts. Without paying any heed to it, we
continue to name the victims with a collective impunity.

With respect for law being so low, how can a judicial and legal system work
effectively to deter sexual crimes against children?

The writer is an advocate of the Supreme Court.

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