ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday took serious notice of a case in which a woman was raped but she was booked by police for zina bil raza (adultery).
A bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi ordered a judicial inquiry into the matter. Complainant Nasreen Mai was kept in illegal confinement for 11 months by Iqbal, a relative of her father and her father’s landlord Ali Muhammad Saamtia. During this period she was raped by Iqbal as a result of which she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. The two culprits stole her onemonth-old child and murdered.
“The Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance 1979 is attracting criticism and objections only because of handling of hudood cases by police in such a manner,” the chief justice observed during suo motu hearing of the complaint of Nasreen Mai. During the hearing, the court was told that 46 rape cases registered under the hudood laws in District Layyah were awaiting investigation for months for want of a senior police officer. DPO Layyah Nizam Shahid informed the bench that under the law, hudood cases, especially rape matters, could not be investigated by a police officer less than the rank of an SP. He stated that a request was sent to the inspector general Punjab police on July 6, 2006, for appointment of a senior police officer in the district but so far no step had been taken.
“Therefore, Iqbal is still a free man,” the DPO said, adding that being a junior officer he could not take up the inquiry. Additional Advocate-General Punjab Syed Azhar Hussain informed the court that Nasreen Mai was married to one Allah Ditta but for seven years she remained issueless. After some domestic dispute, she was asked by her father to leave her husband and stay with him. But Iqbal and Din Mohammad Saamtia, the AAG said, took her away and kept her in illegal detention for eleven months during which she was raped by Iqbal. When she become pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a child, the family members of the landlord killed the baby, the AAG added.
When asked why was an adultery case was registered against Nasreen, the DPO explained that the police registered the case on the basis of the findings of the District and Sessions judge Layyah. However, the bench noted that the DJ Layyah, while compiling his report, had relied upon the investigation of police instead of conducting an independent judicial inquiry. The bench remanded the case back to the DJ Layyah with instructions to conduct fresh inquiry and ordered police to register a new case on the basis of new findings of the DJ Layyah.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/13/2006
