{
  "id": 16783699,
  "title": "Justice Ayesha Malik challenges assumptions blaming women for 'inviting' rape",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/justice-ayesha-malik-challenges-assumptions-blaming-women-for-16783699",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-27T18:37:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn - Pakistan",
    "slug": "dawn-pakistan",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2040251/justice-ayesha-malik-challenges-assumptions-blaming-women-for-inviting-rape"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Supreme Court Justice Ayesha Malik recently challenged the notion that women \"invite\" rape at the launch of a bench book aimed at guiding judges in handling gender-based violence cases. The event, held in Islamabad in collaboration between the Ministry of Human Rights, Legal Aid Society, and the United Nations Population Fund, addressed concerns that sexual violence had become normalized, leading to insufficient outrage. Malik argued that these assumptions about victims must be re-examined and questioned. The bench book, which was also launched, serves as a practical reference to ensure fair trials and decisions based on law and evidence. It highlights the various stages of a trial and provides guidance for judges to assess evidence effectively. The launch of the bench book coincided with a national study on low conviction rates in gender-based violence cases, which identified several factors contributing to delays in prosecution and conviction. The study, conducted by the Ministry of Human Rights in partnership with the Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights, examined the points at which cases often encounter obstacles. The bench book and the study collectively aim to address these challenges and improve the justice process for survivors of sexual violence.",
  "summary": "ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court’s (SC) Justice Ayesha Malik on Tuesday challenged victim-blaming assumptions that suggested that women ‘invite’ rape and called for such attitudes to be re-examined. The judge was addressing participants at the launch of a bench book on the adjudication of rape cases for judges of gender-based violence (GBV) courts in Islamabad. The event was held in collaboration between…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}