This week, You! takes a look at efforts being made by a Women Crisis Centre to combat the issue of Violence Against Women in Multan ...
This week, You! takes a look at efforts being made by a Women Crisis Centre to combat the issue of Violence Against Women in Multan ...
Studies show that almost one in three married Pakistani women report facing physical violence by their husbands. Sadly, the informal estimates are much higher. According to Bureau of Statistics, more than half of the women respondents in Punjab believe that it is okay for a husband to beat his wife under certain circumstances; and these attitudes are not so different in rest of the country. The United Nations defines violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.’
The case of Mukhtaran Mai (2002) is a well-known example of the atrocious crimes committed against women in Pakistan. While there are women who somehow manage to survive such an ordeal like Mukhtaran, some are not as lucky. In 2014, 18-year-old Amina Bibi was kidnapped and gang raped by Nadir Khan, who was eventually released from police custody. Hopeless and disillusioned by this, Amina lit herself on fire and succumbed to her injuries. Her death left many dark spots on the male-dominated society that normalises this sort of violence.
In order to combat the increasing number of rapes, murders, honour killings and acid attacks in South Punjab, a ‘Violence Against Women Centre’ (VAWC) was established under the Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016. VAWC was masterminded by Salman Sufi, who headed the then Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (Law and Order), and now heads Strategic Reforms Unit (SRU).
The models of such centres are available in United States, United Kingdom, Greece and some European countries under the title of Women’s Crisis Centre. The University of Chicago Law School’s International Human Rights Law Clinic has helped to prepare the first draft of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Women Protection Act. “In feudal society, women from South Punjab had no access to justice because it is always conditioned with access to police stations and courts. VAWC was established for women to have a faster and easier access to justice. The Multan centre has been given the status of a police station on the request of the Strategic Reforms Unit to support the project’s main idea of bringing together all justice delivery departments under one roof. Also, this advanced and computerised centre is mostly run by women,” tells Salman Sufi.
“As many as 1545 cases of violence against women had been received by VAWC from March 27, 2017 to February 8, 2018. 1202 out of 1545 cases were solved by VAWC while 343 cases are under process. Cases including domestic violence, marriage disputes, rape, harassment, property disputes, fraud, economic abuse (at workplace or household), emotional abuse, criminal acts (kidnappings, theft, life threat, murder) have been received at VAWC,” shares Salman Sufi.
He also informs that 918 cases of domestic cases were solved which includes: 165 cases of family disputers, 89 of property disputes, 71 of criminal offence (kidnapping, theft, life threat, and murder), 99 of harassment, 58 cases of rape, 22 cases of fraud, 11 cases of emotional abuse and 5 cases of economic abuse at workplace and household.
“The main objective of the VAWC is to provide justice and all facilities to women including FIR lodging, prosecution First Aid, post trauma rehabilitation, medical examination etc that are readily available at thecentre for them. At VAWC, women can discuss their matters and woes in confidence. Female prosecutors have been appointed over there for this purpose. The prosecution links through internet, and no one can approach and put pressure on a victim or prosecutor in any case,” he explains.
One of the cases dealt by the centre and is an ultimate example of violence against women and working within legalities is of Sarah. Sarah had been a victim of extreme psychological abuse at the hands of her husband and in-laws. She was forced to partake in the immoral and illegal activities which they were also involved in. Sarah and her husband separated thereafter but the custody of their daughter was forcefully taken by the father. He even managed to get a stay order on the custody through the guardian courts.
Sarah sought the assistance of VAWC’s legal aid and pool of lawyers, who were eventually able to get her daughter’s custody via a High Court order. According to the VAWC team, it had to be one of the most important achievements as lawyers managed to overrule the guardian court’s stay order and resolve this matter. The High Court had given the daughter a choice and upon choosing her mother, the court ordered the child’s custody to be given to Sarah. There has been no repeat of offence in this case.
Not only that VAWC also provides counselling to women who have suffered mental trauma. The Centre has psychologists who are readily available to offer their services.
Shaista Bukhari, a human rights activist and member of VAWC spoke about how the centre is assisting women seeking justice. “Domestic violence is practiced in South Punjab on larger scale compared to the rest of the country. Mostly women here are uneducated and don’t know about their rights. Women from South Punjab don’t visit police stations. VAWC has given them an opportunity to lodge their complaints. The issues are heard by women and resolved by the women officials here. Seeing this, the women have started approaching VAWC for justice.”
While this centre is committed to help vulnerable women, it is unfortunate that VAWC only takes up cases from South Punjab. According to Shaista Bukhari, women who visit from other districts are referred to the concerned authorities in their districts. When the centre was inaugurated back in March 2017, then CM Punjab lauded the quality of work being done and spoke about extending this service throughout the province, “The centre aims at improving the criminal justice in the country. Such centres will also be established in all districts of the province. They will have police investigation, prosecution and legal aid and medical examination services readily available,” reveals Bukhari. On the other hand, according to Salman Sufi, “After seeing these efforts, the governments of KPK and Balochistan also decided to establish such centres for the welfare of the women. The intent of VAWC is to replicate these centres all over Punjab within three years. Women protection authority has legalised it precisely for this purpose. We are pleased that governments of Balochistan and KPK have shown interest in establishing these centres in their provinces.”
