April 21, 2002	Sunday	Safar 7, 1423

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KOHAT, April 20: Human rights organisations and social and political circles have demanded a fair retrial of the Zina case in which a woman has been awarded death punishment through stoning to death at a public place and the two male accused have been freed.

The court of additional sessions judge Kohat on Wednesday had awarded death punishment by stoning to death to one Zafran Bibi, who had confessed to have become pregnant when his husband was undergoing life imprisonment in Haripur jail after having been repeatedly raped by her brother-in-law in 2000.

The counsel for the woman, Sardar Ali, told Dawn that when Zafran told her father-in-law about the assault made by his son, he took her to the police station where the SHO, without recording her statement, asked her to sign a paper.

Later, she came to know that her father-in-law, Zabita Khan, in an attempt to save his son, mentioned the name of an influential person of the town in the FIR. Besides, he also wanted to mint some money from that influential person.

During the one-year trial, Zafran, who had earlier mentioned the name of one Akmal in the FIR, changed her statement and told the court on oath that the actual culprit was her brother-in-law Jamal and that her daughter was, in fact, his illegitimate child.

The court awarded the sentence on the pretext that as Zafran had herself admitted that she had committed Zina, although she alleged that she was forcibly raped, and that both the male accused had denied the accusations, therefore, she deserved harsh punishment under the Zina Ordinance 1979.

It is interesting to mention here that when Zafran approached the police along with her father-in-law for the registration of an FIR on 27.03.2000 against her brother-in-law Jamal (she did not know that her father-in-law had charged Akmal instead), she was medically examined by Dr Robina Yasmin at the Zanana Hospital where it was proved that she was already seven-month pregnant, following which a case under the Hudood Ordinance was also registered against her.

The police took the plea that on the date when she came to the police station to register a Zina case against her brother-in-law she was seven-month pregnant which confirmed that she had a past history of Zina.

The judgment says: “As far as the case of Mst Zafran Bibi is concerned, who is a Muhsan, as defined by section 2 (d) of the Zina Ordinance, she had admitted the commission of Zina, forcibly or wilfully, in her statement recorded under sections 340 and 342 CrPC coupled with the presence of illegitimate female child amounts to confession of the commission of the offence as envisaged in section 8 of the Zina (enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, hence, I, the judge of the additional sessions court hereby convict and sentence accused Mst Zafran Bibi to stoning to death. She be stoned to death at a public place subject to the confirmation of this judgment by the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan. Accused Akmal stands acquitted of the charge levelled against him. Case property, which also includes the baby, shall remain intact till the expiry of the period of appeal/revision.”

Musarat Shafi, a member of the Aurat Foundation and coordinator of City Action Committee, talking to Dawn said the punishment awarded to the poor woman was too harsh if seen under the particular circumstances. Her husband was undergoing life imprisonment and she was at the mercy of her in-laws. She said Zafran was so helpless and poor that once she came to their office and asked for milk and some food for her four children because her in-laws had refused to bear the expenses of her children in the absence of her husband.

Musarat appealed to the court that till the judgment of the Shariat Court the illegitimate child should be handed over to them for proper care. She further appealed that as the child, her fifth, was completely dependent on her mother the sentence of stoning to death be revised and converted into life imprisonment.

She regretted that the honourable court had failed to understand the circumstances under which the case occurred and the accused was exploited as she had nobody to support her.

The judge had fundamental ideas and that the circumstantial evidence had been totally ignored which ultimately resulted in awarding cruel punishment to an innocent and poor woman, she further said.

Musarat asked the court to grant custody of the child to the Aurat Foundation immediately as she was not guilty.

Meanwhile, the mother and brother of the convict, Shikara Bibi and Mohabat Khan, had appealed to the Shariat Court to reverse the punishment as the convict was forcibly raped when her husband was not present at home and award exemplary punishment to the real culprit whose name had been mentioned in the statement recorded in the court.