Unheard cries

A report recently released by War Against Rape, an NGO that tackles sexual violence, confirms what many already suspected: the state is indifferent, or even hostile to, the plight of women who have suffered sexual assault. According to WAR, in the last year and a half there have been 516 cases of sexual assault reported in Karachi’s three major hospitals but FIRs have only been registered in 24 percent of those cases. Since filing FIRs is only the first step in a long process of seeking justice, one can only imagine how low the percentage is of women who actually end up winning their cases. The reasons why the number of FIRs filed is so slow are numerous. First, there is the attitude of the police, which frequently treat women who have suffered sexual abuse with little more than contempt. Recall the 2011 gang rape case in DHA when the police beat up witnesses and treated the woman who had been raped as little more than a sex worker. As the WAR report reveals, there are only seven female medico-legal officers working at nine government hospitals. This leads to women either not being able to undertake medico-legal examinations or then having then conducted by men who are disinclined to take allegations of sexual assault seriously.

An additional factor dissuading women from reporting cases of rape or sexual assault is that they know it is unlikely to lead anywhere. DNA testing is still not prevalent in the country and the Council of Islamic Ideology recently refused to allow it as the main piece of evidence in a rape case, saying that four reliable male witnesses were still needed and DNA tests could only be used as corroborative evidence. Societal pressure, too, comes into play. Since an overwhelming number of sexual assault cases are perpetrated by a family member or spouse, women are often coerced into ‘forgiving’ the perpetrator, made to feel like it’s their fault or otherwise forced into silence. There are many legal reforms needed, starting with making DNA testing routine to hiring enough women officers and ensuring gender sensitivity training is routine for police. But even this will not solve the problem in itself until we, as a society, acknowledge the problem of sexual assault and stop shaming victims. Until then the only sounds we will hear are the silent screams of victims of sexual assault.