Incidents of violence against women have increased in Punjab during the third quarter of the year (from July to September), as almost double number of cases of violence have been reported during the period as compared to the second quarter of the year.
This was disclosed by "Rozan", a non-governmental organisation working on emotional health, violence against women and children, during a three-day workshop concluded here on Thursday. Ghazi Salahuddin, Zohra Sajjad Zaidi, Maria, Shabana Arif and Suhail Javed and other addressed the workshop.
They said that as many as 1,592 cases were reported throughout the province during the third quarter of the year. In the first quarter, 546 cases had been reported while 828 cases were reported during the second quarter.
According to the statistics of the organisation, 508 cases of abduction; 242 cases of murder; 127 cases of rape; 137 cases of suicide; 120 cases of physical injuries; 100 cases of gang rape; 95 cases of torture; 35 cases of attempted suicides; 31 cases of sexual assaults; 21 cases of honour killing; 13 cases of burning; eight cases of attempted murder and 155 other cases of violence were reported.
In 439 of the 490 cases of abduction of which first information report (FIR),has been registered, there is no information available about the abductor. In majority of the murder cases, the offenders were husbands. In 67 cases of murder, there is no information about the murderer. The representatives of the Aurat Foundation said that the only way to curb rising violence against women was to strengthen the role of the civil society in all spheres of life.