ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior passed two bills to seek public execution of rape convicts and penalties for the desecration of human corpses, as it considered multiple bills referred by the house in its meeting on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the committee chair Rehman Malik and Leader of the House Dr Shehzad Waseem engaged in an altercation. Shehzad later staged a walkout of the meeting over what he described as “bulldozing” of the legislation.

While taking up the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020” introduced by Senator Javed Abbasi, the committee chairman was of the view that strong legislation suggesting stringent punishment must be enacted to deal with the growing number of child abuse cases.

The bill was passed with a majority vote. However, Dr Shehzad Waseem opposed it and showed reservations over it. Malik said that the bill had been passed according to the rules of the committee and directed that the ordinance which had already been notified should also be clubbed with it.

The committee also approved another criminal law (amendment) bill, 2020, introduced by Senator Abbasi. Malik, while appreciating the mover for the bill, said that reports of cases of the rape of human corpses were heart-wrenching and such criminals shall be dealt with an iron fist.

The committee directed that boundary walls should be built around all graveyards across the country with the installation of a monitoring system, including the close-circuit TV cameras so that dignity and respect of human corpses could be ensured.

Newspaper: The Express Tribune