According to the report of Punjab Police, in 2022, only five percent of the accused were convicted in rape cases, the police registered 3642 rape cases in 2022, and 2880 accused were arrested, out of which only 220 accused were punished while other accused were convicted.
In 2023, 4152 rape cases were registered, and 2898 accused were arrested, out of which only 196 accused were convicted.
Similarly, in the first 10 months of 2024, 3678 rape cases were registered in which 2498 accused were arrested, 2921 accused were acquitted and only 178 accused could be punished.
According to the report, 1365 cases of gang rape were registered in the last three years, and a total of 1959 accused of gang rape were arrested, out of which only 37 accused were convicted while In 2024, only five percent of gang rape suspects were convicted.
In the last three years, 16 cases of murder were registered during rape and gang rape, the police arrested 152 accused but only 8 accused were convicted.
In this regard, the Prosecutor General of Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah said that there are flaws in the prosecution system, which need to be corrected. And special training is also being conducted for the prosecutors who follow the rape cases.
The Prosecutor General of Punjab further said that one of the main reasons for the acquittal of the accused is that the accused manipulated the witnesses and the plaintiff.
Legal expert Burhan Muazzam said that the weaknesses in the investigation system benefit the accused, and all the relevant departments will have to come on the same page to bring the accused of rape to justice.
