Under-fire Supreme Court amends ruling in Mubarak Sani case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has approved the federal government’s appeal to expunge controversial paras from the contentious Mubarak Sani case verdict.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, on Thursday heard the Centre’s plea alongside the Punjab government’s petition seeking amendments to the top court’s verdict of February 6.

The apex court had overturned the conviction of sacrilege accused Sani, who sought deletion of certain charges framed against him in the case filed under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act.

In its judgement, the court had noted that the offence that the defendant had been accused of was not criminalised till 2021. Consequently, the apex court set aside the conviction and ordered the immediate release of the petitioner.

After the verdict, the provincial government filed a review petition on the verdict under Article 188 of the Constitution, but on July 24 the top court declared it did not deviate in any way from the decisions of Federal Shariat Court (FSC) and Supreme Court, in approving the bail of the sacrilege accused.

The verdict favouring Sani led to an outrage in religious circles, and a debate in the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice where both the treasury and opposition benches agreed that the federal government should file a petition in the Supreme Court.

Besides the Punjab government’s plea seeking omissions of certain portions from the court’s July 24 revised verdict, the Centre also filed a miscellaneous plea on August 17 as per Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directives.

The Punjab government in its petition maintained that some leading clerics and members of parliament requested the federal government to approach the top court and highlight some portions of the verdict that they said merited correction. It further maintained that certain conclusions and observations made in other parts of the judgement seem to be a mistake and inconsistent with previous rulings of the highest court.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi, among the other religious scholars who requested the federal government for approaching the apex court, attended the Thursday’s hearing.

In the short verdict, the top court said the paras excluded from the verdict cannot be cited as precedent in any judgement.

At the outset of the Thursday’s hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Usman Awan informed the apex court that parliament and certain religious leaders had urged the federal government to approach the top court on the matter again after the July 24 verdict.

While acknowledging that a “second review” of the original verdict was not possible, the AGP noted that the government had approached the court in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure. During the hearing, the CJP remarked: “If we make a mistake, it should be corrected.”

The top judge apologised to Mufti Usmani, who attended the hearing virtually via video link, for not being able to view all the documents provided to the court by those who were served notices. He then asked the cleric to identify the “mistakes” and “objections” in the verdict.

“Our country is an Islamic state where references to Quran and Hadith are made in the judicial decisions. I am not immune to making any mistake,” Justice Isa stated.

Approving the provincial government’s plea, the apex court decided to take assistance from Usmani, Fazl and other religious scholars on the matter.

Addressing the court, Mufti Usmani requested to expunge two paragraphs, No 7 and No 42, from the July 25 revised verdict and amend the part where the court accepted to omit the charges against the accused.

Paragraph 42 stated: “Details of the constitutional and legal provisions and judicial precedents have proved that after declaring both groups of Ahmadis as non-Muslims, according to the Constitution and law, they have the right to practice their religion and express and preach it, provided that they will neither use religious terms for Muslims in public nor present themselves as Muslims in public.

“However, they have the right to ‘privacy of home’ in their houses, places of worship and specific private institutions within ‘reasonable limits’ prescribed by law.”

Mufti Usmani, while explaining his stance, maintained that the term “tableegh” (to preach) was used in paragraph 42, which meant that “unconditional permission was granted” to Sani.

When summoned to the rostrum, Fazl also supported Mufti Usmani’s requests and called for revision of the entire Supreme Court verdict. “If you think Mubarak Sani deserves to be bailed, then it is a different matter but all charges must be retained against his blasphemous actions,” Fazl said while addressing the top judge. He said Sani’s trial should continue as per the Council of Islamic Ideology’s (CII) recommendation.

The court, after hearing the opinion of various religious scholars who attended the proceedings, announced the decision to omit certain paras in admission to the recommendations of CII and scholars’ opinion, and stated that the expunged paras “will not be cited as precedent “ in any future verdict. It also directed the trial court to review the sections imposed against Sani in the light of law.

Talking to the media after the hearing, Fazl welcomed the SC’s verdict and lauded CJP Isa for his “positive attitude” while hearing the matter. He said the apex court deleted all the controversial clauses from its previous verdict.

Fazl congratulated the religious groups on the favourable verdict and announced observing Friday (August 23) as ‘thanksgiving day’ to celebrate the top court’s judgement.

Later, addressing a press conference, Fazl appreciated the CJP for open-heartedly admitting his mistake and deleting objectionable clauses of his previous verdicts of February 06 and July 24.

The JUIF chief said if a personality on such a top post admitted that he committed mistake, then it should be admitted. “The chief justice responded with a positive attitude which should be appreciated,” he said. He also announced to observe a ‘victory day’ on September 07, saying that as a part of golden jubilee celebrations of declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims by the parliament in 1974, a historic public gathering would also be organised at Iqbal Park, Lahore. “Today’s decision of apex court has further highlighted importance of this day,” he said.

Maulana Fazl observed that parliament, government and opposition parties, religious parties and whole the nation demonstrated consensus on the sensitive religious issue. He maintained that no power of the world could conspire against the faith of Muslims on Khatam-e-Nabuwwat (SAW). “I am thankful to parliament and the Supreme Court who were on one page on this sensitive religious issue,” he said.

He told newsmen that they were ready to accept constitutional rights of Qadianis if they consider themselves as non-Muslims as mentioned in the Constitution. “If people of a country do not follow its Constitution, then their rights as citizens of that country cease to exist,” he said.