LAHORE, Jan 6: A full bench of the Federal Shariat Court has admitted for hearing a petition seeking removal of the Criminal Procedure Code's section 172(2) from the statute book "for being repugnant to the injunctions of Islam," as it denies the accused access to the police investigation record as evidence.

Comprising Chief Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf, Justice Saeedur Rahman Farrukh and Justice Dr Fida Muhammad Khan, the bench issued notice to the federal government with the observation that the legal point raised in the petition, moved by Advocate Fazlur Rahman Rana, was important and needed consideration in the light of the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

The petitioner requested court to declare the (aforementioned) section in contravention of the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah unless it was amended by the government to allow the accused to have an access to the police diaries and supplementary challan before it was submitted to a court for trial.

The lawyer-petitioner said the provision of the CrPC allowed the trial court and police to use the police diaries of a case, which contained the investigation record, to update themselves. But it did not allow the accused to use diaries for similar use, he argued.

He submitted that the provisions of the Qanoon-i-Shahadat (Law of Evidence) would apply in case of the record being called by the court or police, but not in case of the accused person or persons.

The provision, according to the petitioner, was against the spirit of Islam. The judicial system of Islam envisaged the principles that human beings were equal; a person was innocent until proved guilty; no offence could be committed without an expressed intention; concealment of testimony was a grave sin; there was no crime under compulsion; no-one was responsible for the acts of others; punishment must be proportionate to the crime; and evidence must be conclusive and based on justice.

The system also stipulated that lawful discovery of sufficient and incriminating evidence of the offence was necessary for conviction. Investigation, he submitted, was an instrument to find truth in criminal cases.

But section 172(2) of the CrPC disallowed the accused to expose truth and even the court could not delegate such power to either the accused or the defence counsel. Mr Rana stated that the right of the accused fell within the ambit of Haqooqul Ibad, which the CrPC's provision negated.

HAJ PLEA: The Lahore High Court on Thursday instructed the Punjab government to ensure the submission of a report on Friday on the plea for Haj by the leader of a defunct sectarian party.