Friday, March 29, 2024

After National Assembly, Senate approves Zainab Alert Bill

After National Assembly, Senate approves Zainab Alert Bill
March 4, 2020
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – After the National Assembly, the Senate approved the Zainab Alert, Recovery and Response Bill, 2019 with a majority on Wednesday. Senator Mushtaq Ahmed opposed the bill. Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed had proposed to turn the life term into capital punishment. National Assembly, Senate, approves, Zainab Alert Bill, majority After the enactment of the law, maximum and minimum punishment for the accused will be 14 and seven years respectively. The policeman not registering the case within two hours of the incident will be awarded two-year punishment and a fine of Rs100,000. On January 10, the National Assembly had approved the Zainab Alert, Recovery and Response Bill, 2019, exactly two years after the body of nine-year-old Zainab Ansari, a rape-murder victim, was found in Kasur in 2018. National Assembly, Senate, approves, Zainab Alert Bill, majority Zainab's rape and murder in 2018 had sparked outrage and protests across the country after she was found dead in a trash heap in Kasur on January 9. Her case was the 12th such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over a 12-month period. National Assembly, Senate, approves, Zainab Alert Bill, majority In August 2019, a parliamentary committee deferred the passage of Zainab Alert Bill with directions to the government to rationalise the ‘extreme’ punishment proposed for sexual assault against children. All members of the committee, except a few, had opposed rigorous imprisonment until death for sexual assault of children. Others had said that rigorous imprisonment with a death sentence was a fitting punishment for individuals sexually assaulting minor children. Further, a helpline will also be established to report missing children while an agency, for issuing an alert for missing children, will also be set up.