LAHORE: The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) says the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Bill should be reviewed to criminalise all forms of violence against women in order to shatter the culture of impunity enjoyed by male perpetrators.

“Punishments in the bill should be prescribed as per Pakistan Penal Code to put emphasis on prevention rather than cure,” said NCJP Executive Director Cecil S Chaudhry in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the focus of the bill had only been on actions to be taken after violence had taken place. Not having the sections indicating prevention from domestic violence, the bill lacked criminalisation and strong precautionary measures for the prevention of violence against women in any form, he added.

“The bill is soft in terms of retribution and punishment for the perpetrators and has no definition of domestic violence, which should include clauses of domestic relationships and domestic work employment, households defining sexual abuse, abetment, mischief, hurt, intimidation, harassment, criminal force, assault, stalking, physical abuse, trespass, psychological abuse, wrongful confinement and vulnerable persons,” said Mr Chaudhry.

Interestingly, he said, the age of ‘dependent children’ and their living arrangements in shelter homes were discriminative and it would be difficult for a mother to choose between her children and live separately from them in case they were less than 18 years of age.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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