Woo-hoo! No more death penalty for adultery in Pakistan. And, possibly, some rape victims will have a slight chance of seeing some modicum of justice done. A slight chance.
Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill giving greater rights to women by amending the country’s strict Islamic laws on rape, but human rights groups called for the laws to be scrapped altogether.
Key changes include dropping punishments of death or flogging for those convicted of having consensual sex outside marriage, said a parliamentary official who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Parliament also gave judges the discretion to decide whether to try a rape case in either a secular criminal or Islamic court, a move that prompted Islamist lawmakers to storm out of the chamber in anger. Strict Islamic laws dictate that a woman who claims rape must produce four witnesses in court, making a trial of the alleged rapist almost impossible because such attacks rarely happen in public.
Under the approved measure, the crime of rape would be punishable by five years in jail or a fine of 10,000 rupees, the official said.
Pakistan’s government hoped passage of the Protection of Women Bill – which aimed at amending existing legislation known as the Hudood Ordinance – would allay concerns that fundamentalism is on the rise in Pakistan.
The Hudood Ordinance was in the long-distant past — 1979. And, remember — this is considered a big leap forward.
Human rights groups are unhappy that the revised law still criminalizes extramarital sex, and doesn’t recognize the concept of marital rape. Fundamentalist groups are unhappy it even gives the option of non-Islamic courts to “they obviously deserved it” rape victims, as well as preventing police from actually going out and arresting adulterers and fornicators based on anonymous tips.