PHC CJ orders religious lessons for ‘brothel owner’

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed a woman accused of running a brothel to “improve herself” by attending classes at a mosque every day for a month.
According to a first information report [FIR] registered on September 6, police received information about a house situated in Hayatabad Phase 4, being run as a brothel. Police raided the house and arrested Rabia, Sumaira, Khan Sultana, Rubi and the owner of the brothel, Neelam.
All the accused filed an application seeking bail from a lower court on September 14, however, Additional District and Sessions Judge Asad Hameed Bangash, rejected the bail request. On Monday, during a hearing of their bail request, PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan accepted the plea of four women and fined them Rs50,000 with two sureties. Neelam’s bail was approved conditionally.
The court ordered that Neelam must visit the Imam of Zarghuni Mosque in Hayatabad everyday for one month to “repent for her sins”.
Chief Justice Khan said the mosque imam must submit a report on Neelam’s progress once the month has been completed. The court also asked the police to ensure the cleric at the mosque provided him with a report once the allotted time had elapsed. Neelam’s lawyers argued that police had concocted a case against her. They argued that her residence was raided without a proper search warrant and that the police were not able to present any witnesses in court to support their charges.
Chief Justice Khan said that he regretted that there were so few vocational training facilities for jobless women, forcing them to adopt “illegal means” to earn a living.
At the same time, Chief Justice Khan was apparently unwilling to allow Neelam to walk away scot free and took the decision for her in effect to receive religious counseling.
However the cleric assigned the task of overseeing court sentences said that while he had heard about the order, he had not yet been formally asked to implement it.