The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, has constituted a special bench to hear a review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s ruling that sexual intent must be proven in cases brought under the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 (PAHWWA).
Judge (retired) Mushir Alam, presiding over a three-judge panel, dismissed the complaint brought by a female PTV employee against her male coworkers.
“The aggrieved person under the provisions of the Act, 2010 has the burden of proving that the perpetrator had an associated sexual intention or overture with his act, demeanor, behavior, and conduct,” Judge (retired) Alam wrote in a 12-page ruling on July 5, 2021.
Afterward, the petitioner and the Office of the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) filed a petition to review the verdict.
On Tuesday, a special bench of three judges led by Judge Yahya Afridi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Ayesha Malik will hear the plea for review.
The petition for review asserted that neither the Islamabad High Court nor the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the AGP by Order XXVIA of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, when analyzing and interpreting the provisions of the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010.
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