ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Cabinet on Tuesday approved in principle the Anti-rape (investigation and trial) Ordinance and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, two critical Ordinances to deal holistically with the crime of rape and child abuse.
While briefing the media after the Cabinet Meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Chair, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Syed Shibli Faraz told that the prime minister directed to the Law Ministry to finalize provisions of the proposed Ordinance.
The minister said that acts of gang-rape have also been inserted in the proposed law in which harsh punishments including the death penalty have been suggested to give exemplary sentences to the offenders of rape.
Shibli Faraz said that the law will be a deterrent against incidents of rape.
In a statement on Twitter, the Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr. Shireen Mazari said that the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) will now finalize and it should become operational in the next few days.
Dr. Shireen Mazari said that it will include an expansive definition of rape, the establishment of Special Courts, Anti-Rape Crisis Cells, protection of victims & witnesses, and the prohibition of the “two-finger” test, etc.
“These Ordinances were badly needed,” she said.
