Rare decision of Session Court, a person sentenced to 80 lashes

karachi (Uttam Hindu News): In a rare punishment, a sessions court in Karachi, Pakistan has ordered a man to be given 80 lashes. The court had found the man guilty of refusing to accept his daughter by falsely accusing his wife of adultery. Additional District and Sessions Judge Malir Shehnaz Bohyo sentenced the accused Farid Qadir to at least 80 lashes. The order stated, whoever was responsible for Qazaf would be punished with 80 lashes.

The court also ruled that the evidence provided by Farid Qadir after conviction would not be admissible in any court.
As per the details of the case, the ex-wife of Farid Qadir (convict) had filed a complaint in the court, stating that she was married in February 2015 and had lived with Farid for at least a month. In December 2015, Farid’s wife gave birth to a baby girl.

Farid’s ex-wife said, “My husband (Farid) failed to pay maintenance or even take me and our newborn daughter back to his home. I filed a case in the family court and got a decree in my favor. The court directed Farid to make arrangements for the maintenance of his daughter and me (Farid’s ex-wife). But my husband submitted two applications to the court during the proceedings, demanding a DNA test for the child and disavowal of his daughter. These applications were later withdrawn by Farid. On the other hand, accused Farid denied the allegations made by his ex-wife and said that his wife had spent only six hours with him.

He said, my wife and I were together only for six hours. Then she left the house and never returned. The punishment of 80 lashes in Pakistan is a punishment not seen since the Zia ul Haq era of the 70s.

Prosecutor Saira Banu said, during my last 14 years of service as a lawyer, I have not seen any punishment of flogging under Section 7 of the Qaf Ordinance. “This punishment of flogging may be the first instance of its kind in the form of corporal punishment in decades,” he said.