Amid protests by religious hardliners, Pakistan's Senate on Thursday approved a bill to amend an Islamic law on rape that requires victims to produce four male witnesses to the crime before a court, paving the way for President Pervez Misharraf to sign it into a law.
The Upper House of Parliament passed by voice vote the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2006, which was approved by National Assembly, the Lower House, on November 15.
The bill, aimed at easing the existing legislation on rape, which was part of the Hudood Ordinance brought in by former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, will become law after getting assent from Musharraf, who pressed for its approval.
The Hudood law warrants rape victims to produce four male witnesses, failing which she could be prosecuted for adultery. Members of the opposition Islamist alliance, the Muuthahida-Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) opposed the bill, alleging that it violated the Islamic law and would amount to permitting a 'free sex market' in Pakistan.
The MMA also faced crisis within its
The government, which had backed out of three previous attempts to push the bill through because of the outcry, threatened to hold by-polls if MMA executed its threat. Pakistan is due to go to general elections next year.
The new law would drop the death penalty for people found to have had sex outside of marriage, and lets judges choose whether to try a rape case in a criminal court or an Islamic court.
Consensual non-marital sex remains a crime, but it is punishable by five years in prison or a 10,000 rupees fine instead of death. The bill also removes the right of police to detain people suspected of having sex outside of marriage, instead requiring an individual to make a formal accusation directly to a court and not the police.
