The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Tuesday announced its reserved judgment on the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 (PPWVA) and declared that the Act was not against the injunctions of Islam, as laid down in Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).
The bench of the Federal Shariat Court comprising of Chief Justice Dr Syed Muhammad Anwar and Justice Khadim Hussain M Sheikh announced the decision.
The judgment stated that generally violence was disliked in Islam and strictly controlled, and that Islam, in fact, had protected women specifically from violence of any sort. The FSC bench further went on to quote various Ahadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that in Islam, it was highly encouraged and praised to take care of and protect women from all kinds of violence. The court further held that there was no force in the argument of the petitioners. No provision of the impugned Act was against the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), hence the captioned petitions were hereby dismissed, read the court order.
It was also conceded by the court that the reports submitted by the respondents regarding the working and results of the Violence Against Women Centre (VAWC) established under the impugned Act in Multan were quite encouraging and positive.
The court directed the provincial government of the Punjab to ensure the proper implementation of this law and to further roll out this law in each and every district of the Punjab as its implementation should not remain limited to one district only, which in the present case was Multan and the compliance report of the implementation and roll out of the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016 (Act XVI of 2016) in the entire province be submitted to this court.
The bench recognised the importance of the said Act legislated by the province of Punjab, and recommended that the other provinces should follow suit and soon.
