LHC grants bail to man accused of 'spousal abuse'

In a decision, which has been termed a judicial precedent, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted bail to a man, who would force his wife to sleep with the man from whom he had borrowed a loan and was not in a position to repay it, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In a 13-page verdict, authored by Justice Amjad Rafiq, the judge said that the exploitation of wife had not been defined as a crime in the Pakistan Penal Code.

However, he said that laws could be applied to different aspects of the man’s act in which he forced his better half to develop illicit relations with another man.

The judge said that legislation was required to declare the exploitation of wife a criminal offence. “It is up to the parliament to enact laws so that women could be protected against such kind of an exploitation,” read the verdict.

The judge said that delay in reporting the incident and the absence of any video or medical evidence had weakened the case against Muhammad Ajmal. “Therefore, the court accepts the post-arrest bail application of the man against a bail bond of Rs500,000,” the judge said.