FSC to hear plea against decriminalising suicide

The Federal Sharia Court (FSC) has admitted for hearing a petition challenging the repeal of the legal provision from the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that criminalised suicide or the attempt to suicide, and issued notices to the relevant parties.

This petition has been filed by Hammad Saeed, a lawyer. He contends that suicide is forbidden in Islam and even before the amendment to the PPC through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2022, the act of suicide was a crime in the country.

Citing Quranic verses and several Hadiths, the petitioner has requested the FSC that decriminalising in the country is against Islam and Islamic teachings, therefore, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act should be “declared repugnant” to the injunctions of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill for repealing the Section 325 from the PPC – which detailed the punishment for attempted suicide – was introduced by Senator Shahadat Awan in the Senate in September 2021.

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The upper house of parliament passed the bill in May 2022 and in October 2022, it sailed through the National Assembly as well. On December 23, 2022, President Dr Arif Alvi signed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill into an act.

The petition makes the Federation of Pakistan through the president, the government of Pakistan through the prime minister and the law ministry through its secretary as respondents. After the filing of the petition, the court had issued notices to the respondents.

After the hearing, the court issued a written order, stating that the preliminary hearing on the petition was held on Tuesday. “We find that the petition needs to be heard and the same is admitted to regular hearing. Let notice be issued to the respondents,” it said.