Legal expert sheds light of LHC’s ruling on separating adultery, rape cases
Advocate high court Faryal Rafaqat told News360 that the LHC's judgement possesses much importance as it is crucial in rape and adultery cases to ascertain whether both parties committed the act with consent or by force.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled in the last week of November that the testimony of the man could be accepted by the court in a case related to adultery or consensual sex by the accused woman. A legal expert Faryal Rafaqat told News360 in detail about the LHC’s recent ruling and sections related to the rape.
Advocate high court Faryal Rafaqat told News360 that the LHC’s judgement possesses much importance as it is crucial in rape and adultery cases to ascertain whether both parties committed the act with consent or by force.
While discussing the legal provisions of adultery and rape, Faryal Rafaqat said that there are 376TP sections with two clauses regarding the punishment of adultery and rape.
Under Section 376(1) the punishment for non-consensual sex is death and imprisonment for life, whereas, consensual intercourse is punishable with imprisonment for up to ten years.
Rafaqat said that the public prosecutor follows a traditional approach and does not do enough to prove the case. In this case too, the public prosecutor failed.
The Lahore High Court accepted the appeal of the accused who was sentenced to five years in the adultery case and later the accused Rashid Ahmed was acquitted.
Justice Tariq Nadeem issued a 14-page written decision on the appeal of the accused Rashid Ahmed.
According to the trial court, the accused Rashid Ahmed had sexually harassed Rabia Bibi with his co-accused.
According to the latest judgment, as per the record and evidence, the girl herself went to the house of the accused where consensual intercourse took place.
The trial court convicted only the man for adultery while the woman was not punished, as per the law. The decision of the trial court only to convict the appellant cannot be sustained.
It should be noted that even according to the medical reports, no signs of violence were found on the woman’s body, a case was registered against the accused under the provisions of rape in Mianwali in 2011, the trial court found adultery in the FIR registered under rape. The man was sentenced under the provisions.
It may be recalled that Rabia Bibi had filed a case against the accused under the provisions of rape in 2011 and the trial court sentenced the accused to five years imprisonment under the provisions of adultery.