Gender Stereotyping and Consent in Rape Cases in Pakistan

Kamran Adil

The twin problems of gender stereotyping and misconstruing consent of the victim of a rape often recur in the criminal justice system. As a thumb rule, the actors of the criminal justice system, use socially informed gender lens to deal with offences of rape and sexual assault. In a recent case (Muhammad Imran vs. the State1 ) before a three member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, once again the issues of gender stereotyping and construing consent to the disadvantage of a victim of rape came under consideration. The bench handed over a split decision that sparked lot of interest. Before looking at the reasons of the disagreement amongst the members of the bench, it will be appropriate to state brief facts of the case. On 11-07-2016, at 8 pm, the victim was in the house of her brother when the accused (who happened to be a friend of her brother) entered the house, locked it, and took her to a room where he raped her. The case was promptly reported to police and a criminal case was duly registered. The evidence comprised two