Tag Archives: gang-rape

Research Journal: Mukhtar’s Story in Half the Sky

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Kristoff, Nicholas D., & WuDunn, Sheryl. (2009). Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunities for Women Worldwide. New York: Random House.

Half the Sky is the reason why I changed my topic to rape laws in Pakistan. The book is a compilation of real-life stories about sex trafficking, sexual violence, maternal mortality, girls’ education etc. Each story narrated harsh conditions women face around the world, but it was inspirational to learn about individuals who rose up against all odds. The story that is most relevant to my research project was of Mukhtar Mai’s. She is a Pakistani from a village in southern Punjab, where she was gang-raped by four men because her younger brother was falsely accused of illicit sex. She reported her perpetrators to the police and, surprisingly, they were arrested. Then president of Pakistan, Musharraf, awarded her $8,300, which Mukhtar used for building her own school. When money started to channel in for her school ($430,000) through contributions from Times readers, Musharraf became uneasy about the “embarrassment” she was garnering for Pakistan from the international community. He put her on the “exit control list,” preventing her from leaving the country, kidnapped her, seized her passport, and stationed intelligence agents to spy on her. All this was done to prevent the outside world from knowing the circumstances women like Mukhtar face. Mukhtar opened her aid group, called the Mukhtar Mai Women’s Welfare Organization, which offers a 24/7 hotline, free clinic, public library, and a shelter.

I will be reading her book In the Name of Honor: A Memoir to understand how she was able to dispel the stigma of rape in her little village, Meerwala. I am interested in understanding the factors that were able to make her case heard and receive a fair decision. She won her case when the Hudood laws were in effect. What was different about her case that led to a Kuhnian “paradigm shift”?

Watch this short video to learn more about Mukhtar’s story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlhKyPOuRvA

Research Journal: Outlawed in Pakistan

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Nosheen, H. (Producer and Director), & Schellmann, H. (Producer and Director). 2013. Outlawed in Pakistan [Motion picture]. United States/Pakistan: PBS Frontline.

“Out of suffering, they [women in Pakistan] have gained a feminist consciousness.”
-Faisal Siddiqi, Kainat’s Attorney

Outlawed in Pakistan is a documentary narrating the gang-rape of a 13-year old girl named Kainat Soomro. She accused 4 men of abducting her on her way to home from school and raping her while she was drugged. After missing for 3 days, she finally escaped and got home. The elders of the village had ordered to kill Kainat and when her family did not comply with this, they fled to Karachi, Sindh’s largest metropolitan area, for safety. Since this rape occurred in 2007, that is, after the repeal of Hudood Ordiances, I was especially interested in the outcome of the legal proceedings. It was shocking to learn that women still experience the same prejudice that they faced in earlier times. The responsibility of proving/disproving the crime solely falls upon the rape victim and presenting evidence becomes an almost impossible situation considering how many police investigators make little effort to collect data. Faisal Siddiqi, Kainat’s attorney stated that the investigation began with a suspicion toward her. Police doubted her “character”. This is concerning because if investigators are themselves biased and do not make a genuine attempt to collect as much relevant information as possible, then the case is already to a grim start. Like many cases, Kainat’s investigation report did not include sperm or DNA evidence. In fact, sperm evidence is often not collected because facilities required to gather such information are not available everywhere in Pakistan.

There were three important things that I learnt from watching this documentary:
1. A common defense used by perpetrators is to produce a marriage certificate of the rape victim and rapist. This allows the accused rapist to dodge death sentence – the usual punishment for rape – when it is proven that the rape actually happened. If it is a common defense pattern, why has not the courts/legal system taken notice of it and made it necessary to present this sort of evidence from the beginning of trial? Marriage certificates appear in the scene when the accused is/are found to be guilty. I have to research how this loophole has affected prosecution rate.

2. It takes between 5 to 10 years to receive a final verdict for rape cases, even if victims have the best lawyers in the country. War Against Rape (WAR), a non-profit organization based in Karachi, helped Kainat with legal support. Despite the fact that she had a high-profile lawyer and her story was extensively covered on media, she lost her case and is going through lengthy appeals.

3. Pakistan’s legal system makes use of both Islamic laws and secular laws. When the two sets of laws diverge or rather conflict, courts tend to uphold Islamic laws.

Click on this link to view the documentary: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/outlawed-in-pakistan/