KP to introduce sexual offender registry, harsher punishments for paedophiles

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is expected to pass a law to protect children against sexual predators on Friday.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2020, which will come into effect at once when it is passed, punishes child rapists and abusers with 14-year imprisonments and a fine extending to Rs5 million.

The bill will be presented in the assembly soon and has so far been presented to the cabinet.

The bill includes punishments for “dealing with organs of a child, child pornography, exposure to seduction and child trafficking”.

It has introduced a new section, special procedure in case of offenders related to children, under which whenever a child abuser or rapist is arrested, the following things are allowed:

• If an offender is punished with a death sentence, the proceedings of the sentence shall be recorded by audio visual means and the recordings will be accessible to the public
• If an offender is sentenced to life imprisonment, they will spend the rest of their life in jail without any parole or probation
• In case of any other imprisonment, the person will not be allowed any remission during the sentence

Offenders who have completed their sentence will have their names included in a Register of Sexual Offenders. A commission will be formed to maintain and oversee the register. The offenders whose names are in the register will be subject to a number of restrictions.

• They can’t be employed at any organisation relating to children in the province.
• They will be prohibited from using any kind of public transport that is accessible to children.
• The data of the offender will be put up on the commission’s website and will be shared with NADRA as well.
• The offender will be reviewed by the commission every three years to take a decision regarding the removal or retention of their name in the register.

If any private or public organisation employs a sexual offender willfully, the manager will be sent to jail for five years and fine Rs10 million will be imposed, the bill added.