Outlawed in Pakistan is the true story of
Kainat Soomro, a village girl.
She is the protagonist of this documentary,
which follows her persistent pursuit of justice
against four men whom she accused of drugging
and gang-raping her at the age of 13.
Kainat faces backlash from her community, who threaten
her for speaking out against her abusers.
Her family fear for their safety, as they
flee from their homes, but continue to be
harassed, which is a clear infringement of
their right to liberty and freedom of person
as laid out in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
Defense argues that one of the alleged rapists
was married to Kainat, but Kainat denies having
any memory of consenting to a marriage.
She recalls signing documents under duress,
while being drugged, but the courts side with
the defendants.
The film focuses on two important issues:
one, even though the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights emphasizes that everyone is
equal, without discrimination, women still
struggle with obtaining justice in cases of
domestic violence and rape; two, the use of
marriage to justify rape is a common defense,
which does not make it any less of a crime.
Marital rape needs to be recognized as a crime
in countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
China, and Singapore to protect the rights
of women, which make up 90% of rape victims
across the world.
