A ticket inspector presented a young woman traveling on the 500-mile journey between Multan and the country’s largest city, Karachi, with a first-class air-conditioned compartment, and guided her from her economy class seat to the empty compartment. The supervisor and three other men, who were waiting inside, threatened the woman and in turn raped her.
Rapists Caught
Railways Police Chief Faisal Shahkar confirmed this shocking attack on the Bahauddin Zakaria Express train last week. According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, each of the suspects fled to remote areas of Punjab in hopes of avoiding arrest, but were still caught by the police within days of each other.
CAUSE LACK OF SECURITY
This incident, which caused so much anger that the public called for the death penalty, aroused a great reaction across the country. An article in the Dawn newspaper questioned why the security on the train was so lax and pointed out how this could encourage crime-prone people.
EXACTLY 14,000 WOMEN
Estimates put the number of women raped in Pakistan at around 14,000 in the last four years, Al Jazeera reported. But official data says less than three percent of rapists are punished. This low conviction rate is due to faulty judgment, faulty investigations and societal taboos.
DID NOT BENEFIT
“This figure may be the tip of the iceberg, as most cases go unreported,” the National Police Bureau said. An anti-rape law passed last year allows courts to order chemical castration of offenders, but that doesn’t seem to deter attacks. Lawmakers also passed legislation that would allow for faster convictions through the establishment of special courts to speed up sexual assault cases.