For the women of Karachi in 2022, it was a bleak year as more than 500 of them experienced rape or sexual assault.
The shocking information was gleaned from medical-legal staff records at the three main hospitals in the city: Dr. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) (ASH).
The Karachi Police Surgeon Office’s records showed an unexpected uptick in murder and rape cases. Additionally, there have been more instances of victims being shot for attempting to thwart a robbery.
513 women reported experiencing sexual assault, while 3,649 reported experiencing domestic violence and were sent to hospitals for evaluation. This information comes from Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed.
Maliha Zia Lari, a lawyer, and human rights advocate, think there are perhaps more rape cases than are often reported. This is so because the data only includes reported instances from three hospitals in Karachi.
She continued by saying that so far, 27 gender-based violence tribunals had been formed in Sindh under the relevant anti-rape laws.
According to a recent survey by the Legal Aid Society, which Ms. Lari represented, the conviction rate for cases involving gender-based violence is around 11%. Additionally, it was shown that just 14% of Sindh residents were happy with how well these courts operated.
She said that even while the response is improving, prevention still has to be a top priority.
