Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan says rapists should be handed down the most severe punishments to curb rising sexual violence in the country, such as either hanging them publicly or chemically castrating them.
The premier expressed the views during an interview on Monday, in response to a question about the motorway gang-rape case that caused an outpouring of anger across the country and brought sexual violence against women into national focus.
“They (rapists) should be given exemplary punishments. In my opinion, they should be hanged at the chowk (piazza),” he said, adding that this punishment should be reserved for rapists and those who abuse children.
“Unforunately, when we had the discussion, [we were] told it would not be internationally acceptable,” he said of public hangings. “They said the GSP-Plus trade status given to us by the European Union will be affected.”
He said another option was to “chemically or surgically castrate” rapists, according to the degree of the crime, “as is done by many countries”.
Prime Minister Imran noted that the primary suspect in the motorway rape, Abid Ali, was previously involved in a gang-rape in 2013 as well. “We need fresh legislation to permanently sterlise such [criminals],” he said. He said sexual crimes should be fought by the entire society, and not just police. “World history tells when you increase fahashi (vulgarity) in the society, two things happen: sex crimes increase and the family system breaks down,” he added.
Citing an example, he said the divorce rate in England shot up to 70 per cent at present as vulgarity increased there.
Compared to the West, “our family system is intact. We can fix our justice system and the institutions but if our family system breaks down, we will not be able to rebuild it,” the premier stressed, saying New Delhi too has become the “rape capital” of the world due to obscenity in Bollywood.
