Senate body proposes bill to 'publicly hang' child rapists, murderers

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior proposed on Wednesday an amendment in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) to publicly hang convicts found guilty of murdering, raping and kidnapping children under 14 years of age.

According to local media reports, Senator Malik has urged the Senate to take up the bill. The bill Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018 seeks to amend the PPC's Section 364-A.

The Section 364-A of the PPC reads: "Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person under the age of 14 in order that such person may be murdered or subjected to grievous hurt, or slavery, or to the lust of any person or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being murdered or subjected to grievous hurt, or slavery, or to the lust of any person shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years and shall not be less than seven years."

The proposed amendment comes in the wake of the recent rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab, who was found dead in a garbage pile five days after she was kidnapped from her relatives house.

This incident caused a lot of fury, with people demanding justice and the public hanging of key suspect Imran Ali, Zainab's neighbour, who was arrested after his DNA matched samples collected from the girl's body.