October 13, 2003	Monday	Sha'aban 16, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has ruled that high courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with cases relating to Hudood laws as those fell into the exclusive jurisdiction of the Shariat Court.

The FSC which, apart from examining the laws to bring them in conformity with Islamic injunctions, sits as an appellate court in criminal cases covered by Hudood laws, held that high courts’ writ jurisdiction under Article 199 could not be invoked in respect of matter falling within the jurisdiction of the FSC.

The FSC judgment is authorized by Justice Saeedur Rehman Farrukh. The FSC ruling has come in a case in which former life partners are fighting legal battle over the legitimacy of a child which was born within six months of their marriage.

The marriage was dissolved as the husband accused the woman of being pregnant before their marriage. The woman, however, is contesting that the child is son of her previous husband.

When a civil court directed appellant Mohammad Safeer to bear the expenses of the child by declaring the child as his, the woman filed case against her former husband under Qazf for making false accusation.

The Attock district and session judge, when informed that a separate suit for the declaration that the child was not his son was pending in Haripur, adjourned the case till the decision on the disposal of the suit was made.

The LHC, Rawalpindi Bench, intervened at this stage under Article 199 of the Constitution, and directed the additional district and sessions judge to decide the matter within one month.

The court sentenced the man to two-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs20,000 for falsely accusing his former wife of conceiving before marriage.

The FSC, after examining all the constitutional provisions relating to its jurisdiction, ruled: “By taking into consideration the accumulative effect of above provisions of the Constitution, no doubt it felt that High Court stands denuded of powers to exercise writ jurisdiction under Article 199 in respect of any matter falling within the jurisdiction of Federal Shariat Court.”

The FSC held that the trial judge was legally competent to decide Qazf case. He, however, stayed it to await the decision of the civil suit.

The FSC struck out all the proceeding which were made by the trial court in the light of the high court order, and directed the trial court to start proceeding from the stage the high court had intervened.