ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court judge Justice Ayesha A. Malik on Tuesday said that sexual violence had become so routine that it no longer provoked sufficient outrage, and called for a fundamental re-examination of attitudes towards women that allow such assumptions to persist.

She was speaking at the launch of the Bench Book on the Adjudication of Rape Cases for judges of Gender-Based Violence Courts in Islamabad.

Event was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), the Legal Aid Society (LAS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

She challenged victim-blaming assumptions that suggest women invite rape.

Launched alongside a national study on low conviction rates in gender-based violence cases, the Bench Book provides a practical reference to support fair trials and judicial decisions grounded in law and evidence.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2026