New Delhi: In what is being called a rare conviction in decades, a Karachi court has ordered 80 lashes as punishment to a man in Pakistan who had falsely accused his wife of adultery.
The order passed Wednesday has been done under the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance 1979, where a man is liable to be ‘punished with whipping numbering eighty stripes’.
This verdict, delivered by Additional District and Sessions Judge Shehnaz Bohyo in the Malir Court in Karachi, underscores the resurgence of corporal punishment in the country’s legal landscape after the era of Zia-ul-Haq in the 1970s and 1980s.
Shafiq Ahmed, a Lahore High Court lawyer, told ThePrint that such a judgment was “inhuman” and “rare” for today’s time.
“Unfortunately, we seem to be still living in the Stone Age. This is a cruel judgment. [The convict] should have instead been persecuted under defamation laws. In the presence of defamation laws, such judgments can be repealed”, Ahmed stressed.
According to the ordinance, whoever commits ‘qazf’ – falsely accusing a chaste person – will receive this punishment. And According to Dawn, the judges found that the husband’s allegations were ‘fabricated’.
The complainant had stated that the couple were married in February 2015 and only stayed together for a month. After a girl was born, the ex-husband didn’t help her financially or bring her back to his house. She petitioned a family court, and the judge granted her a ruling, directing the man to support his daughter and ex-wife.
Following this, the husband filed two petitions with the court, asking for the DNA of the child and accusing his ex-wife of adultery.
However, the complainant filed an application with the District and Sessions Court, Malir, seeking legal redress against her ex-husband for making grave accusations against her, in accordance with Sections 200, 203-B of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) read with Sections 3, 5, 7, and 11 of the Qazf Ordinance 1979.
The accused refuted accusations made against his ex-wife during the trial, saying that she had only stayed with him for six hours following their marriage before leaving and never coming back.
However, the court said that there was no evidence to corroborate this claim.
History of punitive measures in Pakistan
According to an Amnesty International report, the introduction of whipping as a punitive measure can be traced back to various martial law regulations enacted after General Zia-ul-Haq’s military takeover in 1977. During this period, both political dissidents and criminal offenders were subjected to whipping, sometimes in public, highlighting the widespread use of corporal punishment as a means of deterrence.
The Islamic Hudood Ordinances of 1979 further codified whipping as both a hudd (mandatory) and tazir (discretionary) punishment for various offences. For instance, the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance prescribed stoning to death for married individuals convicted of rape or adultery, while unmarried offenders were to receive 100 lashes in a public setting. Similarly, the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hudd) Ordinance stipulated 80 lashes for wrongfully accusing someone of adultery, alongside imprisonment.
The implementation of whipping under EPWO was subject to stringent regulations outlined in Sections 390 to 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Moreover, the physical condition of the convict was carefully assessed before carrying out the punishment, with provisions for postponement in cases of illness or pregnancy. The person administering the whipping was required to exercise moderate force and refrain from targeting sensitive areas of the body, ensuring that the punishment was carried out with due regard for the convict’s well-being.
Despite attempts to curtail the practice of whipping following the transition to civilian rule in 1988, reports of its continued application persisted, raising concerns about its compatibility with contemporary notions of justice and human rights.