A RECENT Supreme Court judgment converting a rape conviction into con-sensual adultery has reignited a necessary debate about how consent is understood and interpreted within Pakistan’s criminal justice system. While courts are duty-bound to apply strict standards of proof, it is alarmingly concerning that factors such as delayed reporting, lack of physical resistance and the existence of a prior romantic or intimate relationship continue to be treated as legal indicators of consent.

This approach reflects not merely evidentiary caution, but an outdated understanding of sexual violence, one that is increasingly out of step with both legal principles and lived realities.

Across modern legal systems, rape is defined by the absence of free, conscious and voluntary consent at a particular moment. Silence does not amount to consent, and the same applies to the other factors. This is not a radical proposition; it is the cornerstone of contemporary criminal law.

Our jurisprudence reflects a troubling mindset which implicitly shifts the focus of scrutiny away from the accused’s conduct and onto the complainant’s credibility and choices. Legislation alone cannot deliver justice in this scenario. As such, legislation has to be accompanied by a correspon-ding shift in the overall institutional mindset that is prevailing today. Without bringing changes in how our investigators, prosecutors and judges interpret elements like consent, trauma and coercion, even the most well-intentioned laws wuold fail to offer meaningful protection to the victims.

Ayesha Youssuf Abbasi
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2026