Justice Ayesha Malik challenges assumptions blaming women for 'inviting' rape

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court’s (SC) Justice Ayesha Malik on Tuesday challenged victim-blaming assumptions that suggested that women ‘invite’ rape and called for such attitudes to be re-examined. The judge was addressing participants at the launch of a bench book on the adjudication of rape cases for judges of gender-based violence (GBV) courts in Islamabad. The event was held in collaboration between the Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), the Legal Aid Society (LAS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Delivering the keynote address at the event, Justice Malik expressed concern that sexual violence had become so routine that it no longer provoked sufficient outrage.

She challenged assumptions that blamed female victims of sexual violence by suggesting that they ‘invite’ rape, calling for a fundamental re-examination of attitudes towards women that allowed such assumptions to persist. The bench book provides a practical reference to support fair trials and judicial decisions grounded in law and evidence, according to a statement by the MoHR. It was launched alongside a national study on low conviction rates in GBV cases. The two publications address connected challenges across the criminal justice process, the statement said. Director general of the MoHR’s Child Protection Institute, Rabeea Hadi, presented the study on low conviction rates, prepared by the ministry alongside the Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights. The study examined “where cases falter, from the first report through investigation, medico-legal examination, prosecution and trial”. Meanwhile, LAS Director of Gender, Inclusion and Development, Advocate Maliha Zia, presented the structure of the bench book and its intended use during court proceedings. The bench book brings together…