Pakistan drops chemical castration as punishment for serial rapists

FILE PHOTO: People carry signs against a gang rape that occurred along a highway and to condemn violence against women and girls, during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan September 12, 2020. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has removed a clause from a new criminal law that had allowed chemical castration as a possible punishment for serial rapists, a government official said on Friday.

"We have amended the criminal law, and decided that the chemical castration clause will be taken out," Maleeka Bukhari, parliamentary secretary on law, told a news conference in Islamabad.