Sindh [Pakistan], June 25 : The Sindh police has reported 913 cases of violence against women and children in the first four months of 2023, Dawn reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
According to a report released by research and advocacy firm Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO), 771 cases of violence against women and 142 cases of violence against children were reported to the police in the province between January 1 and April 30.
Considering social taboos in Pakistan, where people are very unlikely to report such cases to the police, the SSDO believes the actual frequency of cases may be even higher, as per Dawn.
A total of 529 women were kidnapped in Sindh during these four months.
These numbers paint a very discouraging picture of women's safety in the province. The next highest numbers were seen in cases of domestic violence (119), which demonstrate that women were at increased risk of violence in both the public and private spheres, the report noted.
In addition, 56 cases of rape and 37 cases of honour killing were reported in the province during the period.
In all these cases, three districts, Karachi Central, Hyderabad and Keamari, emerged as the hotspot of violent crimes against women, as out of a total of 771 cases, 63, 58 and 54 cases, respectively, were reported from these districts.
In terms of violence against children, it was horrifying to observe that sexual violence was the most prevalent, with a total of 67 cases, as per Dawn.
Furthermore, 41 children were also kidnapped in this short time span, while 16 cases of child marriage and 14 of child labour were also reported to the police.
Out of 142 total cases of violence against children, Karachi South (21), Keamari (16) and Karachi West (13) emerged as the hotspot districts with the highest frequencies of crimes.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor