LAHORE, Feb 2: Justice Sheikh Abdul Mannan of the Federal Shariat Court on Wednesday legitimized the marriage of 75-year-old Muazzam Bibi with 80-year Ata Muhammad of Bahawalnagar
by setting aside their conviction in a case registered against them under the Hudood Ordinance, 1979.
An additional district and sessions judge of Bahawalnagar awarded the two a sentence of five-years in prison on Sept 22, 2003 in an FIR, got registered in 1984 by Ameer Husain, the former husband of Muazzam Bibi. Ameer alleged that his cousin Ata had abducted his wife and the two were committing adultery.
Police arrested the couple in January 2001 - 17 years after the case against them was registered. During the period they were declared proclaimed offenders and assistant advocate-general Raja Abdur Rehman submitted that the two had been living within the same village where the complainant also resided.
When the court announced the decision, all the six children of the aged couple were present along with their parents who still appeared strong. The eldest child was about 15 and the youngest four to five years of age. One of their sons was mentally retarded and physically handicapped.
The AAG informed the court that Ata Muhammad had seven children from the first wife and six from Muazzam Bibi. All his grandsons and granddaughters were married and also had children. Muazzam Bibi had four sons and a daughter from Ameer Husain and some of them were also married and had children.
He said the accused couple and complainants were close relatives, but Ata had a landed property which attracted Muazzam to get divorce from Ameer Husain and marry him.
The trial court awarded the sentence without taking into account the fact that the accused were married to each other and which the aged couple had been pleading since the trial started and also emerged during the cross-examination of the witnesses.
Referring to section 14 of the Offence of Qazaf (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, the AAG submitted on a court call that it provided for a procedure for the trial court to dissolve the marriage. The court, he submitted, did not follow the procedure and awarded a sentence which was not legal.
He cited PLD 1988 FSC 3 and other cases to submit that when a man and a woman had been living together as husband and wife, they were not required to be in possession of a formal nikahnama because it was not ordained by Islam and the Federal Shariat Court had also based several of decisions on this Islamic injunction.
