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 applicable law and judicial guidance in 10 chapters following the sequence of a trial, and supports judges in assessing evidence that is placed before them, according to the rights ministry.

The chairperson of the Special Committee on the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, addressed the practical application of the act.

“The bench book takes what Parliament enacted, together with what the superior courts have held, and places it within reach of the judge who has to apply it,” she said.

LAS Chief Executive Officer Barrister Haya Emaan Zahid illustrated the survivor’s journey by highlighting the pressures survivors face and the need to assess delayed reporting, gaps in medical evidence and family power dynamics in their proper context.

UNFPA Pakistan’s Representative Dr Luay Shabaneh linked fair adjudication to Pakistan’s international human rights commitments, noting: “A judgment that is correctly reasoned protects everybody in and outside the courtroom.”

The British High Commission’s Senior Governance Adviser Mary Kate Thomson highlighted that public trust was shaped by how everyday cases were handled, and influenced whether survivors came forward.

Opening the event, Abdul Khalique Shaikh, secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights, affirmed the ministry’s custodianship of both documents.

“The honest position is that the word on paper and the practice on the ground have not yet converged,” he said, calling for attention to be drawn to how legal protections were delivered in practice.

The event brought together the judiciary, prosecutors, parliamentarians, senior government officials, legal practitioners and development partners, “with a shared focus on translating legal protections into consistent practice throughout the justice process”, the ministry’s statement said.

A total of 3,172 GBV cases were reported across Pakistan during the first half of 2026, including 18 cases involving transgender persons, according to Sahil’s Six Months Cruel Numbers Report (January-June 2026).

The report, available with Dawn, documented 644 murders, 514 cases of torture, 462 abductions, 363 suicides, 280 rapes, 175 injuries, 132 honour killings, and 21 other crimes, including harassment, gang rape and pornography.