A pir — or ‘faith-healer’ — allegedly raped a woman who had gone to him for hepatitis treatment here in the city’s Chak 356/WB village, a police official said Thursday.
According to Lodhran SHO Ameer Ahmed, the survivor alleged that she had gone to the faith-healer in the hopes that he could give her a spiritual treatment for hepatitis. However, he drugged her by giving her water mixed with some intoxicant before sexually abusing her. The alleged rapist was booked and arrested after the survivor’s complaint, police confirmed, adding that further action would be taken after the woman’s medical test was conducted.
What is Pakistan doing to help sexual assault victims?
Sexual violence in Pakistan is an endemic social and public health problem. According to a study carried out in 2009 by Human Rights Watch, it is estimated that between 20 and 30 percent of women in Pakistan have suffered some form of abuse.An estimated 5000 women are killed per year from domestic violence, with thousands of others maimed or disabled.Women have reported attacks ranging from physical to psychological and sexual abuse from intimate partners. In 1998, of the 1974 reported murders, the majority of victims were killed by family members.A survey carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked Pakistan as the third most dangerous country in the world for women, after Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The majority of victims of violence have no legal recourse. Law enforcement authorities do not view domestic violence as a crime and usually refuse to register any cases brought to them.Given the very few women’s shelters in the country, victims have limited ability to escape from violent situations.