Tenancy Series: Discontinuing amenities of tenant

The tenants of any premises situated in the urban areas of Sindh have this protection of law, wherein the landlord is forbidden to discontinue any service such as electricity, gas or water. The Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance 1979 lays down this requirement and provides remedies for the tenant in Section 11. The relevant extract is produced below:

No landlord shall discontinue or cause to be discontinued any service such as electricity, gas or water, except with
the previous consent of the tenant or in compliance with the requisition of the concerned authority or after obtaining the direction of the Controller in this behalf.

Section 11(1), SRPO

Here, you can see that while the landlord is forbidden in the first part, he is allowed to do the same in certain conditions i.e.

• When the tenant himself permits him (e.g. for repairing, or for leaving for vacations)
• When an authority such as K-Electric, SSGC, etc. requires it (for maintenance or non-payment of bills)
• When the Controller (=The Court) orders this.

Remedies
The tenant can go the court if he believes that the landlord has discontinued these services without having the above 3 reasons. If he convinces the court, the court will order the landlord to restore these services. Remember that when the court orders something, it can use police forces to implement its orders if the landlord refuses to comply.

The court will also punish the landlord by imposing fine or by sending him to prison for as long as 6 months. Here is the relevant text from the same law:

Where the landlord has contravened the provisions of
sub-section (1), he shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or with fine or with both.

Section 11(5), SRPO

Cyber Stalking In Pakistan – These Clicks Lead To Jail

Stalking (=unwanted surveillance by an individual towards another person) is a real threat, and it happens all around the world. Since the dawn of the Internet, it has become a hundred times easier to stalk someone now that the victims publish all their personal matters on social media. And so a new term is invented: Cyber Stalking.

Pakistan not only condemns cyber stalking but also criminalizes it. If anyone is found stalking someone on the internet against his/her will, the stalker will be liable to severe punishment. In this regard, Section 21 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 states that:

A person commits the offence of cyber stalking who, with the intent to coerce or intimidate or harass any person uses [...] the Internet, website, electronic mail or any other similar means of communication to
-----> (a) follow a person or contacts or attempts to contact such person to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such person;
-----> (b) monitor the use by a person of the Internet, electronic mail, text message or any other form of electronic communication;
-----> (c) watch or spy upon a person in a manner that results in fear of violence or serious alarm or distress, in the mind of such person; or
-----> (d) take a photograph or make a video of any person and displays or distributes it without his consent in a manner that harms a person.

Section 21, PECA

By this definition, if someone stalks a girl on Facebook, Whatsapp or Instagram, he commits the crime of cyber stalking. Now, its punishment is also stated in the same section, which goes as follows:

Whoever commits [this] offence shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both:
Provided that if victim of the cyber stalking is a minor, the punishment may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to ten million rupees or with both.

Section 21, PECA

This means that if you stalk someone against his wishes he can file charges against you and then you will have to serve jail time for as long as 3 years, and also need to pay fine for up to Rs. 10 Lacs. This is for stalking an adult. If you stalk a minor, the punishment increases, to a hefty Rs. 1 Crore fine, with 5 years of jail.

Killing Cats And Dogs

This law is for those souls who do not regard animals as living things and treat them with cruelty. The laws of Pakistan take care of the safety of animals by punishing those who do wrong to these innocent creatures.

Section 428 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 provides punishment for those who kill an animal with intention to cause wrongful loss or damage to any person by injuring any animal. It says:

Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal or animals of the value of ten rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

This means that every animal is protected from being killed with the intention to cause loss. Here, the intention to cause damage is very important. If let's say, a veterinarian was to put a diseased dog out of his misery, he would not be liable since his intention was not to cause damage. Similarly, by killing a cow for meat or for sacrificing it on Eid, one would not end up in a jail. But if someone does it for fun, or just because he does not like animals, he will be liable for punishment.

The police is empowered to lodge an FIR against the offender, and he will face a full fledged trial before being finally sentenced to up to 2 years of jail or fine. There are other laws in place to prevent cruelty to animals while they are kept/ owned by someone, but this is a topic for another article.

‘Slip And Fall’ Injuries In Pakistan – Remedies

You must have seen in American movies that someone slips on a wet floor and then threatens to sue the owner for millions of dollars. This is actually practicable and there is truth to it. While suing for millions is not a culture in Pakistan, the concept of suing for damages (injuries) is still applicable here. Read along to find out why and how this thing is a reality.

The Law
Pakistan is governed by the laws of Pakistan, but there are more principles and laws applicable here which we collectively call 'the common law'. These are the laws which have been applicable to almost all the countries throughout past decades (sometimes centuries). These laws mostly deal with civil actions such as suing someone for doing a harm on a personal level. The suit in question - the slip and fall case - is part of the same common law.

The suit
If someone falls - or suffers any injury whatsoever - on the premises (private house, restaurant, office, etc.) of another person, and he can prove that the injury was caused by some negligence of the occupier of that place, he can file a lawsuit against that occupier to pay for the damages so incurred by the victim.

The victim needs to prove that the occupier had some degree of responsibility towards his visitors, that he failed to exercise due diligence (take reasonable actions) to secure his visitors, and that due to his negligence, some damage has been caused to the victim.

The damage can be either personal injury (breaking of bones, tearing of skin, or even psychological injury), or monetary loss (breaking cell phone, loss of reputation, etc.) If the court is satisfied that damage has been caused due to owner's negligence, it will order the owner to pay compensation to the victim.

The millions dollars?
Yes, you can sue for as much money as you can, but the court will only award such damages as are actually proved before the court. In the U.S.A., there is a concept of 'punitive damages' by which the courts award tremendous amount of damages to punish the owner. Pakistani courts do not follow this principle and confine their orders to the bare minimum compensation which would be adequate to make up for the losses.

You can, however, proceed to actually prove that the damages so incurred were indeed very high, such as costs of operations, the loss of income due to disability (think of a runner breaking his leg), etc. If you seek more information on the topic, or you feel like you are in a similar situation, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Fundamental Right To Education

The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 controls all that is happening within Pakistan. The Government, the Legislature, and the Judiciary are all subject to our Constitution. The Constitution provides us certain Fundamental Rights (basic rights) which must be provided to all citizens at all costs! No exceptions - except when the Constitution itself provides an exception, and not otherwise.

Article 25-A provides the Fundamental Right to free education. It states that the State - the government and the legislature - needs to provide free and compulsory education to all the children of 5 to 16 years. This means that not only the education needs to be free, it also needs to be compulsory. The State is bound to ensure that every child (of 5-16 years of age) gets this free and mandatory education at all costs.

The Fundamental Rights can not be violated by any government nor can be suppressed by any new law. If a citizen finds himself deprived of a fundamental right, he can approach the High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan for its enforcement. These courts have the power to make appropriate orders in this regard. Follow our social media pages for more information on Fundamental Rights!

Spreading Hate Speech On The Internet

The Legislature of Pakistan has promulgated a new law in 2016 in order to prevent unauthorized acts with respect to information systems and provide for related offences as well as mechanisms for their investigation, prosecution, trial and international cooperation.

This is called The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. According to Section 10-A of this Act, anyone who prepares or disseminates information. through any information system or device (e.g. mobile phones, laptops, etc.), that advances or is likely to advance inter-faith, sectarian or racial hatred is liable for punishment.

Under this section, the culprits can go to jail for up to 7 years. They may be sentenced to pay a fine either in addition to, or instead of, this jail time.

The home-wrecking fraud

Note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of the clients.

Nadir was happily married when he moved to Iran for work. His wife had to stay in Pakistan. He used to visit his wife whenever he had some holidays. One day, he called his beloved wife to tell her a surprise: he had landed Pakistan and was coming to meet his love. But alas! His love had an even bigger surprise ready for him. She forbade him to come home because, she said, she had already obtained Khula (Divorce) from him.

"How could this happen?", thought Nadir. The answer was complicated - The lady approached the court for a decree of Khula but never told the court that her husband was not in Pakistan. She mislead the court into believing that her husband was deliberately not appearing before the court. Gaining the sympathy of the Honorable Court, she also managed to get an order that Nadir will pay her a certain maintenance amount for every month he has been absent.

Now, what remedy does the poor soul have?

We at Aijaz & Usman carefully studied the case and decided to challenge the decision of the Honorable Court. We went to the Appellate Court - a court you go to when you are dissatisfied with an order - and challenged the said order on the basis of fraud and misrepresentation. The Appellate Court entertained our submissions and after hearing arguments at length, directed that the trial will be held de novo i.e. the whole case will be heard again from the beginning.

This gave the couple a chance at redemption. This meant that the once-happy husband and wife could reconcile their differences and become one again. Yes, there must have been some differences which led to this feud, but anyway this is the law: The court will allow both parties to sit and talk out the differences and try to resolve their issue without breaking the marital tie. The question of monthly maintenance will also be decided again.

Whoever was initially in the wrong will now face a fair trial with lawyers on both sides to protect the interests of their clients. Fingers are crossed, and legal research is on full swing to make sure that this time no party may face any hardship and speedy justice is served.