Forced marriages incidence up by 24 percent: Fafen

Forced marriages registered a high increase from 324 cases in February to 403 in May 2013 - an increase of 24 percent. Faisalabad with 43 cases was the highest reporting district of this crime, followed by Rahim Yar Khan (39 cases) and Vehari (31), says a Free and Fair Election (Fafen) report released on Thursday.
Fafen governance monitors visited 88 offices of district police officers in May and reported a total of 985 FIRs of crimes relating to women. Of these, around one-fifth (219) were cases of rape, which went up 46 percent as compared to February when 150 such cases were recorded. Moreover, 21 percent were cases of attack on modest three percent of honour killings and two percent of insult to modesty.
A total of 33,705 cases were recorded in 88 districts during the reporting month. Two fifths of these cases were of crimes pertaining to property and one-fifth of crimes involving physical harm. Six percent were of threat and fraud crimes and two percent of crimes committed against women.
Out of 7,104 cases of crimes pertaining to property, 38 percent were of theft in 67 districts, the most of which were in Lahore (597 cases), distantly followed by district Malir (270) and Faisalabad (238). Twenty-one percent were cases of robbery and dacoity, 20 percent of motor vehicle lifting and 11 percent of motor vehicle snatching. Eight percent were cases of extortion.
There were 4,279 cases of physical harm of which hurt was the most frequent (46% of the total physical harm cases) and murder the most widely reported (76 districts). Twenty-two percent of the total cases in the category were of murder and 24 percent were of attempted murder. Of the accidental deaths, four percent were cases of Qatl-e-Khata and one percent of Qatl-bis-Sabab.
Moreover, 2,025 FIRs were filed for threat and fraud crimes. More than half of these were of counterfeiting currency, followed by 18 percent of criminal breach of trust and 15 percent of cheating. Seven percent of these cases were of criminal intimidation and offences against public tranquillity. Among regions, the highest number of crime cases was recorded in Punjab (67 percent) while 16 percent were in KP, 15 percent in Sindh and two percent in Balochistan.
A high crime rate in Punjab does not necessarily mean a high crime rate; wider coverage of districts in the region, higher trust of people on the law enforcing agencies and lack of parallel judicial system can be the probable reasons for high crime reportage.