LAHORE: The Senate has sought the opinion of the Punjab government regarding a proposed amendment to the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure 1898) preventing arrest of women accused of not so serious crime.

According to official sources, the amendment has been sought in section 46, inserting a 4th sub-section providing “notwithstanding anything contained in this code or any other law for the time being in force, no woman shall be arrested without warrant, unless there appear reasonable grounds for believing that she has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or not less than 10 years”.

The statement for the proposed amendment elaborates that the constitution has protected the dignity of man, woman and privacy of home. “Unfortunately, our law enforcement agencies and particularly police arrest persons on petty matters and in most cases on baseless allegations of complainants. In such cases women too are arrested by police which should not happen.”

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2017