The Upper House of the Parliament on Wednesday passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2009 amid strong objections of the religious parties' lawmakers. The Bill already passed by the Lower House of the parliament in its last session was moved by Law Minister Baber Awan in the Senate.
The new amendment bill seeks to insert a new offence in section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860(XLV) providing punishment for sexual harassment at work places and consequential amendment in Schedule-II of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898(V of 1898), which makes the offence punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years or fine up to five hundred thousand rupees or with both.
Additionally the offence shall be bailable and non-compoundable. The purpose of the amendment is to protect in particular women against the sexual harassment which they generally face at work places. The amendment was supported by all the political parties except the religious parties and a senator from Fata.
Those objected over the bill included JUI Senators Mohammad Khan Shirani, Ghafoor Haideri, Gul Naseeb Khan and Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Professor Ibrahim and another Senator Professor Sajid Mir. They opined that the amendment in the bill is against the fundamental norms of Islam as well as the Constitution and would promote vulgarity among the women. They further proposed that the bill should be sent to the Council of Islamic Ideology for further review.
At one point, the women senators strongly protested and chanted slogans against the JUI Senator Ghafoor Haideri due to his objectionable remarks against the working women, saying that the amendment would further pave way for the NGOs women to promote vulgarity. Senators from PPP, PML-N, MQM, PML-Q, BNP, ANP and some other parties supported the bill, saying that it would give complete protection to the 50 percent population in the country at the workplaces.
They contented that since the bill was passed in the Lower House unanimously there is no point of sending it to the Council of Islamic Ideology. They contented that there are shortcomings in the present law and majority of the women population prefer to stay at their homes due to fear of sexual harassment at the hands of their male colleagues.
Senator Ghafoor Hadri of JUI said that NGOs are behind this amendment and after passage of this bill our society would be converted into the European society. He said that Islamic principles and ethics should not be bulldozed in a country which was created in the name of Islam. While advocating the bill, Senator Tahir Mashedi of MQM said that the amendment in the bill would provide protection to the persons at workplaces from the sexual arrangements.
PML-N Senator Raja Zafarul Haq said that the amendment bill is not a new thing but it has increased and specified the punishment against the offenders, which would provide protection to the poor women in fields, factories, offices and other workplaces. Senator Nelofor Bakhtiar, Kolsoom Perveen and Mushahidullah supported the bill. Later the Deputy Chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali, who was chairing the session, conducted counting on the bill and the amendment was passed with majority.
Later, leader of the House Senator Nayyar Bokhari laid four ordinances in the house, including the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, 2009, The Pakistan Penal Code (amendment) Ordinance, 2009, the Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (amendment) Ordinance, 2009 and the Arbitration (International Investment Dispute) Ordinance, 2009.
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