This is Shanti’s story: a young girlfriend whose death for marriage rape reveals how the women of Pakistan remain unprotected by both society and the State, despite the law.
“The last thing he asked was to a sip of water,” Najma Maheshwari recalled, referring to Shanti, 19, a newly married who died last week after the brutal sexual violence allegedly inflicted by her husband, who is now in custody.
“Then he closed his eyes and never opened them,” he said quietly, his voice full of sadness.
Najma, a social activist from the Shanti neighborhood, accompanied his brother Sayon to the trauma center of Benazir Bhutto, managed by the government. “His interior was torn, he was bleeding profusely from his anus and twisting with pain. Hospital visitors urged us to move the stretcher outside, complaining that the stench was unbearable.
“While cleaning her, doctors removed the worms of her intestine: her wounds were so serious. I have seen a lot in my work, but never so horror or pain,” Najma told IPS By phone from home in Lyari, an informal agreement in Karachi.
After two weeks at the hospital and a one -day excursion to attend Shanti’s funeral in his town, Najma, 38, mother of four children, was deeply shaken. “I can’t eat, and the indescribable stench still chases me,” he said.
According to the complaint filed by Sayon with the police, Shanti’s husband, Ashok Mohan, had “inserted a metal pipe” followed by his “hand and arm” in his anus two days after his marriage. Not happy, he bit her in her breasts and neck and threatened to kill her if she revealed the act to anyone.
“They were committed for two years before we marry her; he was very happy during the celebrations,” Sonya recalled, Shanti’s sister -in -law, and added that the boyfriend, who is 25 years old, lived just some lanes and seemed like a good combination.
Sexual violence, only three days after his marriage, led Shanti to bleed a lot from the anus. When the bleeding did not stop, her in -laws took her to two health facilities, but when the doctors gave up, they brought her home.
“We went to see her … He lay motionless, and his mother -in -law said it was only diarrhea and her period, so we left, without realizing how serious it was,” Sonya said.
Two weeks later, when Shanti’s condition worsened, his in -laws called his brother. Seeing her condition, she took her to the hospital, but it was too late.
“There was clear evidence of anal trauma caused by sexual violence,” confirmed Dr. Sumaiya Sayed, Karachi’s main police surgeon, saying that Shanti was brought in “comatoso” and placed in a fan. His wounds worsened as he continued to pass the stool, which led to his death three weeks later.
The legal resource
“This is a clear case of marital rape,” said Syeda Bushra, lawyer of the Karachi headquarters, which provides free legal assistance. She has managed cases of sexual violence for almost a decade.
Although no specific law currently defines marriage violation, the Domestic Violence Law (Prevention and Protection) of 2013 makes the husbands accounts as offenders.
“Although the law cannot explicitly mention marital violation, its extended definition under section 376 of the Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC) allows the prosecution of husbands,” Bushra explained.
This marks a significant change in section 375 of the PPC, which previously exempt marriage sex, an exemption eliminated in 2006 by the Women’s Protection Law (amendment of criminal laws).
Bushra described the marriage violation as “undoubtedly a form of domestic abuse,” but said it is rarely reported. Many women choose divorce, since marital rape remains taboo and often not even recognized as such.
Government surveys reveal gloomy realities: Pakistan’s demographic and health survey (PDHS) reported that 47 percent of respondents in 2012-2013 considered the wife’s bura justifiable, a figure that only decreased slightly to 43PC for 2017-2018. The data of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 paint an even darker image, which shows that 85PC of married women in Pakistan experience physical or sexual violence, much higher than the 53PC of Bangladesh and the 29pc of India.
The gender and governance expert based in Islamabad, Fauzia Yazdani, highlights how religious texts and traditions are often deliberately misunderstood to justify abuse. Supporting Yazdani’s opinion, lawyer Bushra points out that brave women brave enough to seek justice frequently face defense lawyers citing selective Koranic verses to defend their spouses. “It’s not just disturbing, it’s deeply problematic,” Bushra said.
An impulse for responsibility
While activists challenge these harmful narratives, legal experts press for responsibility within the justice system.
“The cruelty of the law that led to Shanti’s death means that her husband can face charges of rape and murder, establishing a vital precedent to criminalize the marriage violation,” said Bahzad Akbar, a lawyer from the legal aid society that has specialized in cases of gender violence for four years.
In 2022, Akbar assured the first condemnation of matrimonial rape of Sindh, where the husband was sentenced to three years in prison and fined RS30,000 (USD 106) for sodomy. But the verdict took two years.
Today, with the law against the violation of 2021 that established special courts, Akbar has the hope of a rapid trial and justice in the case of Shanti.
“Shanti’s case will be a test for society,” he said, “offering hope to women who support sexual abuse in marriage that justice is possible.”
Tragically, Shanti’s case did not cause generalized outrage.
“That is because she was a woman, and in this society, women are seen as disposable,” Yazdani explained.
According to her, gender -based violence is rarely recognized as a crime in the collective mentality of Pakistan, so it remains inadequately addressed within the institutions.
“There is still no official definition of misogyny and patriarchy; there are no local terms that capture these concepts,” he said, keeping the government, the judiciary, the police, the country’s opinion creators and even the independent supervision agencies responsible for reproving Pakistani women “again and again.”
This disconnection between social attitudes and institutional responses, he argued, creates a vacuum that even solid laws fight to unite.
Legal experts recognize that while Pakistan has strong laws that protect women, the application is still weak.
“When the laws are made in a social vacuum, what do you expect; they will remain ineffective,” Yazdani observed.
Lack of conscience
This disconnection between law and lived reality is very visible in the experiences shared by health professionals.
“I know smart and consummated women who still believe they have no right to reject their husbands. Many see sex without consent as their marriage duty,” said Dr. Azra Ahsan, a senior gynecologist and Obstetrician based in Karachi.
After years of listening to young people, married women silently trust their pain, often long after the damage was done, Dr. Ahsan convinced himself that sexual education and reproductive health (SRH) is crucial to raise awareness about reproductive health, including marriage rape.
To fill this emptiness, she and a group of doctors of related ideas in the Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN), the implementation arm of the National Committee of Pakistan for maternal and neonatal health, developed Bakhabar Noujawan (Informed young people), an online SRH program backed by the Ministry of National Health, Regulations and Coordination Services, launched in 2023.
“We are trying to present it at universities, but convincing the faculty is a uphill battle: they first need to understand the importance of the course,” he said.
Covering more than two dozen culturally delicate themes, from premarital advice, marriage of children and cousins, domestic violence, STIs, teenage pregnancy, the program does not shy away from difficult conversations. “Now we are developing a module on marital rape,” says Ahsan, Head of Aman. “The first draft is almost complete.”
Together with Srh Education, Sayed emphasized the need for mental health and emotional well -being programs.
“Too many young people carry the trauma of child sexual abuse,” he said. “As they grow, that buried pain can manifest in a worrying way: some develop sadistic or masochistic behaviors, especially when they are exposed to a pornography without control. Do not cure them; deepens the damage.”
The lawyer Akbar, who has managed almost two dozen cases of child sexual abuse in the last four years, said the 70pc involved incest. In the three Medicolegal centers of Karachi, Sayed reports four to eight cases of sexual violence daily, however, only three cases of marriage rape in 2024 were recorded, which underlines a severe sub -registration.
Experts say that this silence comes from deeply entrenched norms that condition women to support abuse instead of speaking.
“Even today, parents tell their daughters in marriage:” Her husband’s house is her final home, she must only leave him in death, “Yazdani said, and added that Pakistani society is obliged by social customs that constantly deny women their rights.” She is compartmentalized and seen only through the lens of relations, her duty simply obey the men who surround her. son”.
Image of heading: From the beautiful girlfriend, to the victim of marital rape, this is the story of Shanti, a 19 -year -old whose husband has been accused under the Domestic Violence Law (prevention and protection) of 2013.
This article was originally published in Inter Press Service and has been reproduced here with permission.
