ISLAMABAD  - Council of Islamic Ideology on Monday decreed DNA test was not acceptable as primary evidence in rape cases, but it could be considered as supporting evidence.
Council chief Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, while addressing a news conference, said although DNA testing was a useful and modern technique for supporting evidence, it could not be used as primary evidence alone.
The court of law could take decision in light of DNA test when it was used with other evidences as supporting material, he added.
Sherani told newsmen the council had rejected Women’s Protection Act, 2006, saying its provisions were not in line with Islamic injunctions. Hudood ordinance dealt with all these offenses and that Islam sets procedures to determine crime cases of rape, he added. Council chief said the existing blasphemy law should not be amended and Pakistan Penal Code had already sections which dealt with sentences for those who misused any law of land, adding that the judge could resort to those relevant sections to award sentences.
He said the council had unanimously decided that no member shall comment on any decision of council’s meeting unless the matter was elaborated and explained in a press release or press briefing by the body.
Sherani also expressed dismay over broadcast and publication of explanation of council’s decisions without any explanation from it. He asked media persons to publish news items about council’s meeting after release of an official communiqué.
To a question, Sherani said every institution played its own role and Islamic Ideology Council was performing its job as a guiding body and that the powers to implement those recommendations did not rest with it.