The argument for chemical castrations for rapists started after Pakistan witnessed a series of heinous incidents of rape in the last several years. Recently, in September, a woman was gang-raped in front of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway sending the country first into shockwaves and then into protests asking the government to reconsider the country’s laws relating to rape convicts.
Later that month, in a TV interview with Dr Moeed Pirzada, on Channel 92, Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that rapists should be given the most severe form of punishment to prevent the rising sexual violence in the country. He said, hanging and “chemically or surgically castrating” the rapists were the two likely options.
The Law Minister, Farough Naseem, in November issued a proposed anti-rape law in which the judge can give the convict an option to have a voluntary castration or will be given punishment under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) under which the court might award him the death sentence, life imprisonment or 25-year jail term.
Read more: Govt ready to present bill in parliament on castration of rapists: PM Imran Khan
