The Pakistani National Assembly proposed two bills earlier this week to outlaw cannibalism after two brothers were re-arrested for stealing corpses from graves in order to make "human curry." According to the Daily Mail, 35-year-old Mohammad Arif Ali and his brother Mohammad Farman Ali, 30, were re-arrested in April after police allegedly discovered the head of a 3-year-old boy in their home in the small town of Darya Khan in Bhakkar District in the Punjab.
Officials said neighbors had been complaining about a stench coming from the Ali brothers' house, and when they entered police found the young boy's remains.
"Residents informed police after a stench emanated from the house of the two brothers," District Police Chief Ameer Abdulluh said at the time. "We raided the house...and found the head of a young boy."
Back in 2011, Mohammad Arif and Mohammad Farman were arrested on similar charges. At the time, Pakistani police noticed that the grave of a 24-year-old woman had been tampered with, the Daily Mail reports. An investigation led them to the Ali brothers' house where police allegedly found human remains cooking in a "stew."
Police said they believed the brothers had been responsible for digging up more than 100 graves in order to eat the corpses. After confessing, the brothers served two years in jail and were released in 2013, despite angry protests from villagers. The BBC reports that the Ali brothers tried to keep a low profile and stay out of the public, but neighbors continued to complain about strange smells coming from the house.
Despite the two incidents - and many more similar cases - cannibalism remains legal in Pakistan, but they are now pushing for stricter laws that set clear punishments for anyone who digs up graves or consumes human flesh.
The Washington Post reports that two bills were presented to the National Assembly in Pakistan this week. The first bill bans the exhuming of a human body "with intent to cook, eat, sell or to use for magical purposes." Violators can face between 10 years and life in prison.
The second bill states that people can face at least seven years in jail for consuming human flesh.
"Patients would come to me telling appalling tales of people digging graves of their loved ones and takin out different body for witchcraft," said Nikhat Shakeel Khan, chief sponsor of one of the bills and a medical doctor, to the Washington Post. "Most of these cannibals have mental problems, but we hope to stop them as well as those who use body parts for magic and witchcraft."
According to the BBC, the Ali brothers were each sentenced in June to 12 years in jail.
