Under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) violence against women has officially been criminalized. The Punjab Provincial Assembly unanimously passed the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill. It has 31 clauses, which provide a proper system for complaint registration as well as penalties for offenders.
In the words of Sharmeen Chinoy, “If people don’t go to jail for honor killing, how will they know it’s a crime?” This basic and simple reasoning pretty much applies to everything, does it not? If one continues to use violence, even murder against another to settle scores or to make a point, and is never sent to jail, wouldn’t he and everyone else think that such acts are acceptable in a society?
According to the new bill, in order to “protect life, dignity and reputation of the aggrieved”a universal toll-free helpline will be available to all to contact protection centers and shelter homes where disputes can be resolved and reconciled. A woman protection officer caneven direct the defendant to move out of the house for 48 hours. Any obstruction or resistance to protection officers will be punishable by a fine of Rs.500,000 and imprisonment for up to 6 months.
The law itself will ensure protection for every woman out there. Any violence/offence under ‘domestic, sexual, psychological, economic and cybercrime’ will be considered a criminal act.
To keep these laws in check and to make sure they are not abused, filing of false complaints will also lead to imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs. 100,000.
In my personal opinion this is a great step that the government has taken and is an example for those countries that don’t consider women as worthy of being protected.
I would have thought that every Pakistani out there would be happy and proud of this big step.
How wrong (and ridiculously naive) I was.
The Chancellor of Jamia Binoria International, Mufti Naeem recorded a video message JUST for all us idiots out there to correct our sinful ways.
