Pakistan has dropped a controversial chemical castration clause as a possible punishment for serial rapists from the new criminal law after several lawmakers objected over it and called it "un-Islamic" and against Sharia, Islam's legal system, the government official said on Friday.
"The Islamic Council of Ideology had objected to the punishment of chemical castration for rapists for being an un-Islamic practice, so we decided to remove it from the law", Justice Maleeka Bukhari, Pakistan's parliamentary secretary on law, said during a press conference on Friday.
She added that it would have been unconstitutional to pass the law as all laws must be under the Sharia and the Islamic holy book the Quran.
"Therefore, we can't pass any law that goes against these values”, Bukhari said.
The new anti-rape law, approved by the parliament on Wednesday, is the need of the hour as the previous law had flaws that hindered the provision of justice for victims.
It would allow speedy convictions and severe sentences for perpetrators, including the death penalty and life imprisonment.
It has also introduced new provisions for the protection of victims and punishments for officials who fail to investigate their complaints properly.
Chemical castration is carried out with the use of drugs and is reversible. It is a lawful form of punishment in countries such as South Korea, the Czech Republic, and some states in the US.