On Wednesday, according to
Business Recorder, Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court (FSC) declared three sections of the 2006 Women's Protection Act void, finding that the provisions violate Section 203DD of
Pakistan's Constitution. That section defines the jurisdiction of the FSC as including the power to reveiw the finding of any criminal court under any law relating to the enforcement of
Hudood. An editorial from the Pakistan's
Daily Times describes the effect of the FSC's ruling. It says that the FSC decision:
seeks to restore the primacy of Hudood laws in cases relating to the offence of zina (adultery) and qazaf (false accusation of adultery), which have a long history of abuse and injustice. The Women’s Protection Act 2006 omitted two sections of the Hudood Ordinances which, to some extent, reduced the likelihood of abuse of these laws against women accused of adultery. Their cases could now be tried under the Pakistan Penal Code, instead of exclusively under the Hudood Ordinance.
However, not only did the FSC declare Sections 11, 25, 28 and 29 of the Women’s Protection Act 2006 un-Islamic and unconstitutional on the premise that the overriding effect of the Hudood Ordinances over other laws could not be taken away, it also asserted that the jurisdiction to hear appeals under any law relating to ten offences covered by the term ‘hudood’ for the purpose of Article 203 DD of the constitution lies with the FSC and not the high courts. The FSC thus gave parliament time till June 22, 2011 to make amendments to the Women’s Protection Act to restore these clauses, otherwise the court’s verdict would stand and these clauses would be considered restored. The court also directed the government to amend the Control of Narcotic Substances Act of 1997 and Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 to lay down a procedure for filing of appeals to the FSC instead of a high court for such offences....
According to the Business Recorder, the ten offenses over which the FSC has asserted jurisdiction are:
Zina (adultery),
Liwatat (sexual intercourse against the order of nature),
Qazaf (imputation of adultery),
Shurb (alcoholic drinks/intoxicants/narcotics etc),
Sarqa (theft simplicitor),
Haraba (robbery, highway robbery, dacoity - all categories of offences against property as mentioned in Chapter XVII of Pakistan Penal Code),
Irtdad (apostasy),
Baghy (treason),
Qisas (right of retaliation in offences against human body) and human trafficking.
