After Parliament enacted new legislation aimed at speeding up prosecutions and imposing harsher punishments, sex offenders convicted of several rapes in Pakistan may suffer chemical castration.
The law is a response to public anger over a recent surge in reports of women and children being raped around the country, as demand for efficient crime-fighting measures grows. The bill’s ratification comes almost a year after President Arif Alvi signed a new anti-rape ordinance adopted by the Pakistan Cabinet, which calls for the chemical castration of rapists with the convict’s permission and the establishment of special tribunals for expedited trials.
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On Wednesday, the joint session of parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2021, together with 33 other laws. According to the Dawn newspaper, it proposes to change the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898.
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Jamaat-i- Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, an Islamist, criticized the law, calling it un-Islamic and Sharia-compliant. He said that a rapist should be publicly hung, yet Sharia law makes no mention of castration. The use of medications to suppress sexual activity is known as chemical castration. According to media accounts, it is a legal form of punishment in nations such as South Korea, Poland, the Czech Republic, and several states in the United States.
