Colombo, Oct 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan's Supreme Court has said that protecting women from violence requires not only a change in social attitude but also a detailed probe carried out through a gender-sensitive lens. The court's reasoning shows that if prejudice enters a probe, it can distort the search for truth before a judge sees the proof, a report mentioned.
Writing for a two-member bench, Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar said that police officers must be given training to recognise and overcome gender and patriarchal biases when handling cases involving violence against women. The court's verdict came in a domestic homicide case; however, its importance extends beyond one murder, according to a report in Sri Lanka-based Daily Mirror.
"It confronts a longstanding problem in which violence occurring inside homes is often treated differently from violence in public spaces, even though the private setting can make evidence harder to obtain and victims more vulnerable. The Supreme Court’s reasoning exposes an uncomfortable reality: when prejudice enters the investigation, it can distort the search for truth before a judge ever sees the evidence," a report in leading Lankan newspaper 'Daily Mirror' stated.
Domestic violence poses a particular challenge to criminal justice as the crime often takes place behind closed doors. In the verdict, the apex court said that a tragedy in a homicide case is not only that a woman can be killed inside her house but that the circumstances involving her death can remain hidden behind closed doors, the report stated.
The court said that the legal system had a responsibility to expose the truth instead of allowing the privacy of the matrimonial home to become a protector of perpetrators. Domestic cases are different, as conventional assumptions regarding witnesses and evidence can work against women in such cases.
In such cases, there may be no independent eyewitness, physical evidence can be concealed, and family members might not be ready to testify before the police or court. A victim is not able to present her side when the alleged violence causes her death, according to the report.
The Pakistani Supreme Court ordered authorities to pay attention towards identifying, protecting and keeping all the available evidence on record. The verdict places the investigation process under scrutiny.
Earlier this month, a human rights organisation said that Pakistan's Punjab province alone recorded 195,787 cases involving women and girls between 2021 and 2025, local media reported.
The figure represented nearly 82 per cent of all gender-based violence cases reported across the country during the five-year period, according to the National Gender-Based Violence Crime Report 2021-25 by Peace and Justice Network Pakistan.
As per the findings, Punjab recorded 14,824 cases of domestic violence, including 3,746 cases in which women were killed. The province also reported 830 honour killings and 442 cases of burning, comprising 143 acid attacks and 299 stove-burning incidents, Pakistan Observer reported.
Sexual violence emerged as another major category, with 20,560 cases reported during the period. These comprised 16,827 rape cases, 2,183 gang-rape cases, 189 instances of custodial sexual violence and 1,361 incest cases.
According to the report, Punjab recorded 90,965 cases of kidnapping and abduction from 2021 to 2025, the highest among the reported categories. It also documented 68,165 cases involving other forms of gender-based violence that were not individually classified.
The province recorded 23,032 cases in 2021, followed by 28,080 in 2022 and 35,238 in 2023. The figure rose significantly to 52,824 in 2024 and further to 56,613 in 2025.
Source: IANS
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz
This website uses cookies.
