Pregnant woman gang-raped in Pakistan's Punjab

Islamabad: In a heinous crime in Pakistan, a pregnant woman was gang-raped by five men in the Punjab province, according to media reports.

Five armed men barged into the house of a woman in Jhelum city who was reportedly expecting a baby, Daily Pakistan reported. According to the report, the group of culprits first assaulted and then tied the victim's husband using a rope.

However, Punjab police have launched a manhunt after the incident.

The police officials said the medical examination of the pregnant woman was completed and the blood sample of the victim was also sent to Lahore for forensic examination.

The crime occurred days after, a Karachi woman was gang-raped in a moving train last month. The gang-rape of a 25-year-old woman on a moving train put the spotlight on Pakistan's poor record with women's rights.

Three men including a ticket checker are accused of raping the woman, who was reportedly the mother of two. She was travelling from Karachi to Multan in Pakistan's Punjab province last week, CNN citing Pakistan's Railway Ministry reported.

It added the incident took place after the men asked her to move to a carriage with air conditioning. Citing police report CNN reported that the three men have been arrested on suspicion of rape.

Data provided by the Punjab Information Commission in February shows that a total of 2,439 women were raped and 90 killed in the name of "family honour" during the last six months in the province.

According to the last year's 'Global Gender Gap Report 2021', Pakistan ranked 153 out of 156 countries on the gender parity index, that is, among the last four.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)'s recent report said that in Pakistan, at least 11 rape cases are reported daily with over 22,000 such incidents reported to police in the last six years (2015-21).

The report states that society gives undue advantage to perpetrators by blaming victims. Instead of having a drop in the number of cases, there has been a sharp rise with an overall less than 1 per cent conviction rate.

"Only 77 accused of the 22,000 cases were found to be convicted and the conviction rate is around 0.3 per cent," the report said.