ISLAMABAD, June 21 (IslamOnline.net) – Pakistani police are accused of misusing Islamic Hudud (prescribed penal laws) with women taking the brunt of the misapplication.

Women, who are either victims of rape or married without family consent, are subject to arrests and ill-treatment at the hands of policemen.

Naheeda Mehboob, a lawyer and women right’s activist, said one of her clients who was gang-raped for over three months, was punished by police.

“The kidnappers released her when they found out that she was pregnant. She later went to police station to register her complaint. The case was registered and investigation started. But later on the police arrested her on the charges of adultery,” Mehboob told IslamOnline.net.

Mujeeb Ur Rehman, a senior lawyer who has practiced criminal law in Pakistani courts for over 40 years, said unfortunately the child of the said woman was awkwardly taken by police as evidence against her to prove her “crime”.

“Now she stands in court as defendant and not as a victim,” Mujeeb said.

Similarly he said in the cases where adult women marry without the consent of their parents, they are arrested before they can prove that they are married.

“And to satisfy the court with enough documentary evidence in favor of marriage is an uphill task,” he said, adding the suspect woman is kept in jail till the time she proves herself innocent.

Under Islamic Shari`ah, pregnancy cannot stand as an independent proof for the establishment of the crime of Zina (sexual intercourse outside wedlock).

Scholars and experts of Shari`ah laws agree that the Hudud are misused in the country, calling for ending the police enforcement interference in such cases.

“But Shari`ah or the Hudud are not responsible for this misuse of the law” Professor Mahmoud Ahmad Ghazi, a seasoned Islamic Scholar and President of International Islamic University told IOL.

He said the procedure adopted by the police to investigate the crimes under Hudud Laws are faulty and those should be rectified.

“If a woman is victimized by her parent for disobeying, this is not the fault of Shari`ah. The police is responsible for this mishap,” Ghazi said.

He said the debate on the merits and demerits of the Hudud Laws can be addressed by bringing in some procedural changes in the implementation of Hudud Laws.

“Police have no role in investigating Hudud cases. Only a judge can investigate such crimes,” he said.

A strong lobby in the country is vehemently opposed to any change in the laws despite President Pervez Musharraf’s call that they should be “amended or replaced”.

“The Hudud Laws stem from Islamic Shari`ah and any move aiming to repeal them would be strongly opposed,” Senator Dr. Kausar Firdos of religious party Jamaat e Islami told IOL.