As of November 15, 2006, Pakistan's lower house of parliament voted to put the crime of rape under the civil penal code, curtailing the scope of Islamic laws that rights groups have long criticized as unfair to women.
The Islamic laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, were introduced by a military ruler, President Zia-ul-Haq, in 1979. They made a rape victim liable to adultery unless she could produce four male witnesses to the assault.
The main amendment approved on Wednesday takes rape out of the religious law and puts it under the penal code. That does away with the requirement for four male witnesses and will allow convictions to be made on the basis of forensic and circumstantial evidence.
It's about time these women got some rights!
Islamist lawmakers walked out of parliament, boycotting the vote, after leader Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman told the assembly the change to the law would encourage free sex. "This is an attempt to create a free sex zone in Pakistan," he said. "Existing laws are correct and should be maintained … The changes are not in line with Islamic teaching."
An amendment was introduced shortly before the vote setting down punishment of up to five years in prison for extra-marital sex, though sex outside marriage had always been an offence under laws on adultery.
I must say, women have deserved the right to call a rape an actual rape. To get four male witnesses would be nearly impossible! Thank you world for some consideration to females!