New Delhi, Aug 25: Acquitting a rape victim sentenced to severe punishment of being stoned to death in public under the Hudood laws, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan in a landmark judgement has held that a woman is not liable to such punishment when the sexual act is forced upon her by a man.

The judgement by a three-judge bench of Federal Shariat Court (FSC) and hailed internationally, has reversed the order of an Islamic court, which had punished an illiterate village woman Zafran Bibi of Gumbat district of being stoned to death as she failed to produce four witnesses to prove her innocence that she was a rape victim and had not committed adultery. Punishment to Zafran, which had attracted the attention of various human right groups around the world, was over-ruled by the bench comprising Chief Justice Fazal Ilahi Khan and the Judges Fida Muhammad Khan and Ejaz Yousaf, holding that if the sexual intercourse is forced upon a woman under compulsion against her free will, she will neither be guilty nor liable to be convicted.

Pakistani media has hailed the decision as "historic and landmark" after late military dictator Mohammed Ziaul Haq had imposed the tough shariat laws in the country. Largely circulated English daily, dawn in its editorial said "it indeed is a landmark judgement" as the FSC had laid down strict standards of evidence and precaution so that no innocent person was punished under the shariat laws.

"The FSC verdict serves to highlight the horrendous miscarriage of justice in many rape cases since the Hudood Laws were enforced by Ziaul Haq regime, under which a woman if reports rape, is first to be arrested," the newspaper wrote. Bureau Report