New Anti-Rape Crisis Centre Brings Hope for Sexual Abuse Survivors in Pakistan

Women and experts attend a seminar on rape and justice organized by Blue Veins in Peshawar, Pakistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPSBy Ashfaq YusufzaiPESHAWAR, Pakistan , Feb 21 2024 (IPS) Medical experts and women’s rights activists are pinning hopes on the establishment of an anti-rape crisis centre for the provision of medical and legal aid to victims of sexual assaults in a timely manner will ensure convictions. Currently, it takes years to bring the perpetrators of rape to justice due to a lack of evidence and more often than not, the accused get acquitted. “In most of the cases, the evidence in sexual assault cases is lost because people wash the victims’ genital areas from where samples are taken for semen analysis to trace the real culprit. Subsequently, the accused are acquitted by courts,” Prof. Hakim Khan Afridi, head of the Forensic Sciences Department at the Khyber Medical College, told IPS. Afridi added that it was also important to preserve the survivor’s clothes to ensure that the perpetrators of rape and sodomy are brought to justice. Advocate Mehwish Muhib Kakakhel told IPS that the accused are often acquitted due to reasons such as faulty first information reports (FIRs), insufficient evidence, credibility issues with witnesses, problems in the investigation process, absence of forensic labs and crisis centers in provinces and cities, legal procedural errors, compromises or settlements outside the legal system, potential pressure or threats, ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Aid Asia-Pacific Civil Society Crime & Justice Development & Aid Featured Gender Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Sustainable Development Goals TerraViva United Nations Women's Health IPS UN Burea Source Type: news