It is another classic case of fake news dissemination, but this time many media giants are seen caught in the knot.
A big chunk of local and international media reported that chemical castration as penalty for rapist has been passed during the joint session of assembly, however the punishment was abolished after the objection of Council of Islamic Ideology.
Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Malaika Bokhari while addressing a press conference said that news of approval of bill of chemical castration has been circulating on media, but in reality the chemical castration clause has been removed from the bill after CII’s objections and it was not the part of bill that was passed.
Meanwhile news media big boys were seen caught in the ripple. Dawn, BBC, VOA, Reuters and Express Tribune published news without any research of the bill passed on the said day or any firm confirmation from people involved.
Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Malaika Bukhari addressed a press in Islamabad on November 19, 2021. Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Malaika Bokhari declared on Friday that the clause providing punishment of “chemical castration” for habitual rapists had been removed from the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021, in the light of objections raised by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).
The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has raised objections against chemical castration of rapists and said that “chemical castration of rapists and sexual offenders is against the tenets of Islam”.
CII further added that an alternative punishment should be considered for rapists according to rules and teaching of Islam, instead of chemical castration.
Pakistan is an Islamic State, Bokhari said, noting that “Article 227 of the constitution guarantees that all laws must be according to Shariah and the Holy Quran, hence we cannot pass any law that goes against these values.”
(Editor’s Note: The phrase ‘Fake News’ is not a scientific term. If facts of information are inaccurate it cannot be called news in the first place. It would be categorized as misinformation or disinformation. othernews.pk has opted to use this phrase as the mass searches and prefers the term ‘Fake News.’)
He is a Pakistani journalist, documentary producer and teaches journalism at various universities in Lahore. He is a silver medalist in MPhil Mass communication and has reported and edited for a number of English print media organizations in Pakistan.
