Malik M Aslam Awan
FIGURES of women molestation cases are ever rising to an alarming state day by day. Morbid minds manage themselves assimilated-by fair or foul means- in universities, especially those of government sector. Morbid mind is too mordacious to the whole society even causing the mordant decay and alarming risk to life. Several voices have been heard in universities and colleges that male teachers molest their girl students. In Karachi the Sindh metropolitan, Faisalabad, even Islamabad several cases have been echoed causing widespread panic amongst parents. Our country finds its origin on Islamic ideology and our society hinging on Islamic principles has no forbearance for those causing molestation to young girls.
Stormy ripples cause earthquake, like upheaval in societal structure. People in general and the parents in particular get frightened and think in terms to change the institution but where they would go? Is there any institution too secure as compared to other institutions. The answer is exclusive “NO”. Then what would be the other option for parents to make their young daughters secure of molestation. College and university level female students ‘almost’ have sufficient maturity but feel helpless before their male teachers and feel shy of intimating her parents. To muster courage to lodge a complaint before higher authorities of the college or university is a matter of utter shame. Most of the parents of affected girls feel too hesitant to lodge a complaint because the higher authorities and inquiry committees don’t seem to be so active to take action against the offender – there is a large mordacious segment in society who take such crime a routine matter and criminal sexual assaults on women or children don’t touch their mind to perceive a heinous crime. Being a member of Muslim society one cannot bear such criminal assault as a routine matter – we are too sensitive to make our off springs secure of sexual assaults. But when our young girls face molestation from a teacher, we got stunned, shivering in anger, find no way to leap forward.
Weaker sections of society find no social backing to thwart and resist such criminal assaults and feel themselves alone, some think if they report the matter to police, they will have to face mordant questions from police officials. Sometimes Police officials having gratification from the molester turn turtle the whole situation to the utter disfavour of the victim girl and their parents. Being a social worker and hailing from political background, I often had to monitor such cases and found the police officials making sarcastic remarks to the victim and posing nude questions to the victim and the parents, which we can’t bear in any case. The same practice is repeated during trial of the case the opponent counsel put nude, grilling questions to the victim as the victim is buried in shame.
It is a rampant practice in police that the investigation officer having heavy gratification from the offender, had natural tilt to safeguard his heinous crime. Lawful lacunas are framed in the case and the culprit of criminal assault escapes punishment. It is oft-repeated heinous and shameful practice of police black sheep that they portray a scenario to create a blemished impression that the victim is causing harassment to the offender to extort money from the offender, while it is an established fact that after lodging such complaint the plaintiff has no recourse to withdraw the complaint as the case being non-compoundable, hence zero chance of blackmailing. The charge of blackmailing is often concocted to give criminal shelter to the accused.
Second rampant and condemnable practice is the counter concocted case against the victim or her family members to force her to retreat and get frightened of being implicated in false cases ensuing incarceration in jail. Some influential criminals cause assassination attempts on victims or her relations to make them frightened to migrate to any other place. All the aforementioned illegal practices are resorted to by the criminal patronage of police black sheep in lieu of heavy gratification. In government and private offices molestation of female subordinates has also resounded. Female subordinates are harassed to have nefarious ends and the above mentioned scenario is created and repeated to the same tune as discussed above.
The incumbent government and parliamentarians are required to close their heads together to enact a law to secure the victims of criminal assaults and her parents of the malice of molesters. For this purpose a commission comprising retired honest judges of Supreme Court and the reputed bureaucrats be constituted to punish the criminals and make the victims secure of police malpractices. The police officers found guilty of such malpractices be immediately rusticated from service and punished severely
—The writer is a freelance columnist and independent analyst based in Lahore.
