In a tweet, journalist Moeed Pirzada said: PM Imran Khan thinks that criminals like the “Motorway Rapists” should be hanged at public squares."
According to the journalist, the prime minister shared this viewpoint during a one-to-one interview with him that would be broadcasted at 8 pm tonight.
Last week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Khan supported capital punishment for the suspect involved in the rape case while speaking on a private TV channel.In Feb, the PTI lawmaker moved a resolution in the National Assembly, seeking the hanging of convicts in public. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented the resolution and it was approved by all lawmakers, except the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Demand for public hanging:
In the wake of the gang rape of a woman on the motorway, the demand for the public hanging of rapists has once again stirred a debate in the national mainstream and social media.
Over the 7 days, at least three cases were reported in the mainstream media: rape and murder of a five-year-old in Karachi, gang-rape of a woman on the motorway, and rape of a seven-year-old in Rawalpindi, resulting in public outrage that called for public hangings to curb rapes.
According to people who propagate capital punishment to deter sexual assaults in Pakistan, this was the only solution to curb sexual violence in society. These people have urged the prime minister to hang the rapists publically so that no one would dare to take advantage of a woman again.
Moreso, the demand for public hangings has always been resisted by the progressive quarters who term this practice ‘barbaric act’. Amnesty International official Omer Warriach opposed the resolution seeking public hanging of rapists.
Waraich said: “The sexual abuse and murder of children are among the most horrific crimes, but the death penalty is not a solution. Public hangings are acts of unconscionable cruelty and have no place in a rights-respecting society.”
The former attorney general and senior lawyer Ashtar Ausaf had told Arab News earlier this year that there was no empirical evidence that public hanging was a deterrent to the crime. “It is a sensitive matter and our lawmakers should discuss it thoroughly before legislating on it,” he had said.
Sex education and reformed criminal system:
Experts have stressed that a better way to deter such crimes would be to teach children sex education and initiate a debate in society over sexual violence. They further said that the rampant misogyny that often translates into acts of violence against women needs to be addressed as well.
Moreover, they say that instead of empty rhetoric or paying heed to calls for public hanging that are high on rhetoric, the state should legislate to effectively prosecute suspects involved in sexual violence.