The ulema consultation committee formed to weigh the Punjab protection of women against violence act in the light of the holy Quran and Islamic traditions has put forward comprehensive suggestions over the course of three meetings to make the legislation pro-Islamic.
In this respect, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah presided over a meeting on Thursday.
Senior member of CM’s Special Monitoring Unit Law & Order Salman Sufi assured the participants of the meeting that the suggestions made by the ulema committee were already going to be included in the rules of the act and would now bring a greater clarity in the rules.
During the meeting, Sanaullah said that the legislation-making was an ongoing process and assured the committee that their suggestions would be included in the rules. He also said that the government would wait for the letter addressed to 1,100 ulema to reach them and if anything un-Islamic was found in it, the law would be sent to the assembly for amendment. “Uptill now the suggestions made do not call for any amendments to be made,” added the minister.
It may be mentioned that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has been part of the ulema committee, but it did not attend a single meeting or present a single observation about the legislation.
Sanaullah said that the government was grateful to the ulema for making their observations, so that the government could implement this law together in its true spirit of preventing violence against women.
The answers to the suggestions of the ulema committee include the following: It would be clarified in the rules, that the women protection officer will separate both the parties inside the house first, rather than evicting the husband for up to 48 hours, as per Surah Nisa. If the women protection officer cannot separate them and if the woman doesn’t want to move to the shelter home, then she may ask the husband to leave the house within one hour.
It would also be clarified in the rules, that the women protection officer can take an undertaking from the aggressor, promising not to commit violence. However, upon repetition of violent act, action will be taken against the aggressor.
As per Ulema’s suggestion and existing clauses in the law, mediation will be the foremost step through the district women protection committees and protection centres and shelter homes.
Furthermore, the fact that GPS trackers will not be used for cases between a man and his wife since they live in the same house, will also be clarified in the rules. GPS trackers are only for those who are not living together. It is defined that GPS tracker will be used to protect the life, dignity or reputation of the aggrieved in cases of grave violence or likely grave violence such as rape/acid attack/attempted murder. The crimes upon which GPS tracker will be used will be further clarified in the rules. Unlike Sindh and Balochistan domestic violence act, that rely on human evidence, this legislation provides for electronic evidence for enforcement of protection orders
Psychological Violence has already been very clearly defined in the act, as certified by a panel of psychologists, and does not restrict the family members to question or inquire about her whereabouts or actions, as long as violence is not committed against her.
As per the request of the ulema committee, mediation committees will include members of the family and Islamic scholars. The composition of the mediation committees will vary from case to case, as will be specified in the rules and ulema can be added in the committee. Mediation through immediately available elders can be incorporated in the rules. If this mediation through elders fails then WPO can exercise her mediation powers under this act.