PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court in an 8-1 split majority decision today struck down 16 out of 18 provisions under the Kelantan Shariah criminal enactment as unconstitutional.
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who is leading a nine-member panel of judges, delivered the majority ruling that the Kelantan State Legislature does not have the power to enact laws on said offences because there are federal laws covering the same.
The 16 provisions ruled unconstitutional in Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 are:
1. Section 11 (destroying or defiling place of worship)
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3. Section 16 (sexual intercourse with corpse)
4. Section 17 (sexual intercourse with non-human)
5. Section 31 (Sexual harassment)
6. Sections 34 (possessing false document, giving false evidence, information or statement)
7. Section 36 (intoxication)
8. Section 39 (reducing scale, measurement and weight)
9. Section 40 (executing transactions contrary to Shariah code)
10. Section 41 (executing transactions via usury)
11. Section 42 (abuse of halal label and connotation)
12. Section 43 (offering or providing vice services)
13. Section 44 (preparatory act of offering or providing vice services)
14. Section 45 (preparatory act of vice)
15. Section 47 (act of incest)
16. Section 48 ("muncikari” otherwise known as a person acting as an intermediary between a woman and man or between the same gender for certain offences)
The two provisions ruled constitutional in Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 are:
1. Section 13 (selling or giving away child to non-Muslim or morally reprehensible Muslim)
2. Section 30 (words capable of breaking peace)
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