ONE of the most infamous cases of sexual harassment has come to a fitting conclusion. On Friday, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced five men to life imprisonment for holding a couple hostage at gunpoint, physically assaulting them, forcing them to strip and carry out sexual acts on camera. After they had committed this depravity, the gang had then used the video to blackmail the couple for money. When the video surfaced on social media in July last year, it went viral and sparked outrage across the country. Even the prime minister weighed in, directing the police to ensure that the men were brought to justice. The main accused was arrested within a day, and several others were apprehended soon after. The charges against the gang, based on the victims’ statements and bolstered by video evidence, made for what seemed to be a watertight case. And then, Pakistan’s social dynamics kicked in, and it all began to fall apart.

Early this year, the prosecution told the sessions court judge that the victims’ phones were switched off. Then, in January, the female victim retracted her statement against the accused and told the trial court that she did not wish to pursue the case. The next day, however, Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bokhari announced that the state would pursue the case regardless of the recent developments. “Irrefutable video and forensic evidence on record; anyone harassing and stripping a woman must face full force of the law,” she tweeted. The government took the correct approach; clearly, attempts were being made to intimidate the witnesses and pervert the course of justice — a crime in itself. Sadly, this is far from uncommon in this country. Powerful groups bribe, threaten and blackmail witnesses to recant their testimony, which often weakens the case and enables perpetrators to go scot-free. These ploys are even more frequent in cases involving female victims, as in the case at hand, when the stigma attached to sexual crimes already inhibits women from coming forward to file charges. Until the criminal justice system can inspire trust in victims and instil in them the confidence that their tormentors will be brought to book, women will remain vulnerable to such pressure tactics. Even otherwise, witness protection programmes must be strengthened in the country. In the present case, the video evidence was compelling enough to bring about a conviction; that is not always the case.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022