The Parliament of Pakistan passed a bill on Wednesday permitting chemical castration as a punishment for serial rapists in that country, according to Dawn, Pakistan's newspaper of record.
The ordinance amended the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860, the primary criminal law of the country, by modifying the definition of rape to cater to as many categories as possible, including a new criminal offense of gang rape.
Another Dawn report said that the bill also enforces special courts to expedite rape trials within four months, addressing long-held concerns over the speed of the justice system.
''Chemical castration is a process duly notified by rules framed by the prime minister, whereby a person is rendered incapable of performing sexual intercourse for any period of his life, as may be determined by the court through administration of drugs which shall be conducted through a notified medical board,'' the law states, per Breitbart.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has publicly supported the chemical castration bill since last year in response to increased incidents of rape.
Asked by a journalist about a woman who was dragged out of her car and raped by two men at gunpoint in September 2020, Khan said he believed that the culprits ''should be hanged publicly,'' Reuters reported.
''The way there is first-degree, second-degree, third-degree murder, this [rape] should be graded in the same way, and when there is first-degree [rape], castrate them,'' Khan said in an interview on a Pakistani news channel.
''Sadly, rape culture is predominant in Pakistan,'' Nida Kirmani, a professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences, said, according to Asian News International (ANI). ''One that blames the victims of sexual assault and frames all men as naturally violent. Many are working to change this discourse, but it is an uphill battle.''
In Pakistan, police were made aware of more than 22,000 cases of rape over the last six years. Only 77 of the 22,000 cases resulted in a conviction during that period — a rate of less than 0.4%, ANI reported on Oct. 18, citing official government data.
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