The Supreme Court of Pakistan considered the social status and injustices caused to the transgender population. The Court noted that under the Constitution of Pakistan, transgender individuals are entitled to enjoy constitutional rights like every other citizen of Pakistan. Over the years, transgender individuals in Pakistan have been deprived of inheritance, other property rights, voting rights, education, and employment due to the stigma and exclusion they have suffered.
The petitioner was a mother who moved with her husband, the respondent, to Canada with their three minor children in 2009. The respondent moved back to Lahore, Pakistan and the children stayed with the petitioner in Canada. The respondent wanted the entire family to move back to Lahore. To this end, he approached the Guardian Court in Lahore and declared himself as the guardian of the person and property of his children. When they came to visit him, he refused to let the children go back to Canada.
The Supreme Court for the first time ever approached the issue of honor killings from a victim's rights perspective. The Court found that no one had the right to take law into their own hands to take a life in the name of ghairat.
Murder conviction for father's honor killing of daughter, son-in-law and grandchild upheld on the grounds that an honor killing is murder. The Court found that "[n]o tradition is sacred, no convention is indispensable and no precedent worth emulation if it does not stand the test of civil society's fundamental principles. In particular, the law must reflect changing needs and promote social progress.
The appellant arrived at the respondent’s home armed with a pistol and raped her. The respondent, 16 years old at the time, was already 32 weeks pregnant with the appellant’s child due to multiple previous rapes. The respondent filed a suit against the appellant and gave birth to a daughter during the trial. The Trial Court found the appellant guilty and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment, to which he appealed to the Lahore High Court.
On a petition filed by a transgender individual for violation of constitutional rights, arguing that the census excluded transgender people with disabilities. The High Court ordered the Census Commission to include transgender in a separate column. This followed a recent order dated 09 January 2017 in writ petition (No. 37499/2016), where the High Court ordered the Census Commission to include the category “Transgender” under the column “Sex” in Form-2. The transgender category was assigned code/number 3 in the said column of Form-2 under disability.
Two men were sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in 2011. The court acquitted two suspects due to lack of conclusive evidence. The victim, Amina Ahmed, had gone missing from her home in Luddan village on December 26, 2011. Her dismembered body was found three days later and an autopsy confirmed that the victim was gang-raped and murdered. Luddan police arrested four suspects within 72 hours.
Proceedings were initiated on basis of a press clipping dated 4th November, 2013, indicating the gang rape of a deaf dumb woman, Mst. Fauzia Parveen who took it upon herself to go to the Magistrate when no one believed her and submitted an application for a medical examination (which was ultimately granted and conducted clearly revealing evidence of rape). The Court determined that the facts support the allegation of rape and also that the police were negligent in dealing with the matter and tried to cover up their negligence.
The acid violence case of Mst. Naila Farhat was brought in November 2008. In 2003, the perpetrator sprayed acid on the (then) 13 year old victim’s face in retaliation for her refusal of a marriage proposal. Ultimately, he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and ordered to pay 1.2 million rupees in damages. However on appeal to the High Court, the Judge stated that if he paid the fine he would not be imprisoned. In April 2009, the victim appealed to the Supreme Court and was the first case on an acid attack to reach the Supreme Court.
In this highly publicised case, the Supreme Court considered ten matters - eight are appeals by the victim against the acquittal of the accused rapists; one appeal has been filed by the convicted and the one is a suo moto action of the Court recalling the judgement in the gang-rape case that acquitted five of the six accused. Fourteen men were indicted in the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai in 2002, undertaken in revenge for an alleged breach of decorum by her brother and sanctioned by a panchayat (village council).
