IT should be a matter of grave concern that there is no let up in exploitation of women, especially those who come out of their homes to earn livelihood and become part of the nation-building. Scams after scams are surfacing in different institutions despite greater awareness in the society about the role of women and the need to encourage their empowerment.
In the latest episode, the police launched an investigation on Tuesday against the principal of a private school in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Hadeed area who was arrested a day earlier on allegations of raping and blackmailing women. According to police, the detained suspect “confessed” to having raped women in the school after luring them with the prospect of a job in the institution and making their videos to blackmail them. Earlier, the media was abuzz with reports of immoral activities by teaching and admin staff of various educational institutions but unfortunately these reports have not been probed in the manner they deserved and as a consequence complaints about molestation of women/girls continue pouring in from different parts of the country. It is, indeed, a sorry state of affairs as data compiled by three major hospitals of Karachi showed 513 women and girls were subjected to sexual assault during 2022. Crimes against women are increasing at an alarming rate and they feel secure neither at home nor on the road or at the workplace despite the fact that we have a comprehensive law aimed at preventing harassment of women at work place and the institution of Federal Ombudsman for Women. Same is the situation with children as a report by an NGO revealed an average of 12 children per day – or one every two hour – were subjected to sexual assault in the country in the first half of the current year. Crimes against women and children are increasing mainly because of low conviction rate and inability of the victims and their families to report such abuses because of social and economic pressures and the stigma associated with sexual abuse. An effective vigilance is needed on the part of the law-enforcing agencies and the civil society to prevent such crimes as many families are showing reluctance to send their girls to educational institutions or allow them to seek a job because of the insecure environment.
