Prevention of child abuse: Senate approves Zainab Alert Bill 2020

The Senate on Wednesday approved by a majority the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act, 2020, with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) lawmakers voting against it.

The legislation has been named after Zainab, a six-year-old who was kidnapped from her home in Kasur, raped and killed in 2018.

On February 24, the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights had approved changes in the bill, which had previously been applicable only to Islamabad.

JI's Siraj-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed voted against the bill, saying that they have reservations over it.

"The bill does not contain a provision for a death sentence," Ahmed said, adding that: "A section on Qisas [eye for an eye] should be added."

"Adding Sections 201 and 302 will make the bill more effective," the JI lawmaker said.

Haq, echoing Ahmed's sentiments, said that in the past few months, over three thousand children have been raped. 

"The bill needs Sections 201 and 302."

"Without Qisas, we will not vote in favour of the bill and will stage a walkout," he said.

Backing the JI senators, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam's (JUI-F) Molvi Faiz Muhammad said: "The Islamic law already has Qisas as punishment for rape and murder."

Read more: What you need to know about the Zainab Alert Bill

Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani, replying to the JI senators' statements, said: "If you wanted changes to be made in the bill, you should have submitted them in the Senate Secretariat."

Sanjrani then asked the senators to pass the bill now and make amendments to it afterwards.

PTI's Shafqat Mehmood, agreeing with the Senate chair, requested that the senators vote on the bill, noting that the bill had already been debated in the National Assembly and then in the Senate.

Senator Azam Khan Swati said that he will introduce amendments to the bill in the future, but requested the house to pass it for now.

Read more: National Assembly passes Zainab Alert Bill for recovery of missing children

PML-N's Muhammad Javed Abbasi, also felt the bill in its existing form merits some changes. "The Zainab Alert Bill is good, but we have a few amendments for it," he said.

"The life sentence in the bill [is not enough punishment] and if rape or murder of the child is proven, then the guilty person should be sentenced to death," he argued. 

Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights Chairperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar noted that seven to eight meetings had already been held on the bill, adding that he was ready to include further amendments to the bill if they will make it better.

"Police should have to launch an FIR on the child's abduction within two hours of the [assault] happening," Khokar proposed as an example.

"Special courts should hear the case and announce decisions within three months," the PPP lawmaker further proposed.

According to the bill, an agency will be set up whose director-general will be appointed by the prime minister. 

The agency will be tasked to maintain a database of missing and abducted children, and work closely with the telephone hotline '1099', which will forward all reported cases to the agency. 

In coordination with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), messages will be generated to all service providers regarding the child. The information will be sent to all electronic and print media as well as radio stations to disseminate.

In the case of a child's disappearance, the police will have to immediately file a first information report (FIR).

If the officials do not cooperate and fail to register an FIR, the responsible official will be slapped with a fine of Rs100,000 and sentenced to prison for two years.

The National Assembly had on January 10 passed the Zainab Alert Bill 2019. The lower house's Standing Committee on Human Rights had unanimously passed the Zainab Alert Bill on October 8, 2019.