ISLAMABAD: The Federal Shariat Court on Monday declared the decriminalisation of suicide attempts repugnant to the injunctions of Islam and struck down a 2022 legislation through which that act had been omitted its as an offence from the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, Justice Syed Muhammad Anwar and Justice Amir Khan announced the reserved verdict on two separate petitions challenging the amendments introduced through the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022.
One of the petitions was filed by Advocate Hammad Saeed Dar in 2023 and the other by Advocates Muhammad Azam Malik and Muhammad Kashif Sulehri in 2025.
Giving its ruling on the pleas, the court declared the impugned law void and restored Section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Prior to the 2022 amendment, Section 325 prescribed simple imprisonment or a fine or both for a person who attempted suicide. The provision had been repealed as part of broader criminal law reforms aimed at treating suicide attempts as a mental health issue rather than a criminal offence.
“The decriminalisation of a crime through the impugned Act No.XXXVII, titled Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022, whereby Section 325 of the PPC, 1860 has been omitted is against the principles of the Holy Quran and Sunnah,” the judgement authored by Justice Dr Syed Muhammad Anwer stated.
The court observed that “suicide is undoubtedly a cardinal sin in Islam and is an anti-life act, hence any effort to attempt its commission is also considered as an act to promote an anti-life act“.
The FSC ruled that that the 2022 amendment would have no legal effect immediately following its judgement, and Section 325 of the PPC stood restored.
‘Blanket cover cannot be granted’
The petitioners had argued in their pleas that suicide was prohibited in Islam and that the criminalisation of suicide attempts served as a deterrent. They contended that decriminalising the act effectively creates a “right to suicide”, which they said was not permissible according to Islamic jurisprudence.
The respondents, including the Federation of Pakistan, had opposed the pleas, contending that the 2022 amendment did not legalise suicide but merely repealed the punishment for a suicide attempt, instead shifting focus to treatment and rehabilitation of the individual concerned. They argued that penalising mentally distressed individuals contradicted Islamic principles of mercy.
The court, however, found this reasoning flawed.
It examined the objects and reasons of the 2022 legislation, which stated that suicide was “always” committed by a person suffering from depression or a mental illness.
The court questioned whether depression or a mental illness was the only cause for attempting suicide and listed multiple other situations involving suicide attempts. These included attempts for terrorism, hunger strikes for political gain, self-immolation for agitation, relief from financial burden of medical care, online games like the Blue Whale Challenge and religious cult motivations.
“In addition to that, the intensity of depression also varies from case to case and situation to situation. A blanket cover cannot be given to each and every case of depression, mental illness or disorder, under which an exception can be granted for committing any crime and especially a crime which is so heinous that a human life is involved in it,” the court observed.
It further noted that the legal system already had adequate provisions exempting persons of unsound mind from criminal liability.
Section 84 of the PPC states that nothing is an offence done by a person who, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act. Additionally, Chapter XXXIV of the Code of Criminal Procedure comprehensively deals with persons suffering from mental illness, the court noted.
“In the presence of a whole chapter covering all possible situations to deal with a case of a person involved in committing an attempt to suicide if he is suffering from some kind of mental illness, apparently there remains no reason for decriminalising this crime,” the judgement stated.
The court also highlighted “serious” legal consequences of decriminalising the act.
It noted that individuals who helped someone commit suicide could not be charged in such a situation, and nor could those who instigated others — particularly children — to commit suicide through dangerous IT applications and online games.
The court further invoked the Islamic principle of Sadd ad-Dharai (blocking of means), declaring that any action which may culminate in the death of a person must be stopped by the state.
It noted that the Council of Islamic Ideology had proposed that if any exemption was necessary for mentally ill persons, such an exception could be incorporated within Section 325 of the PPC instead of repealing the entire provision.
The judgement also mentioned that the Ministry of Interior had also raised objections over the 2022 amendment.
Stating that “Islam is a pro-life religion,” the judgement added that the protection of life was one of the “utmost goals” of Shariah, and “any act, direct or indirect, which leads to affecting the life of any person adversely is not only a sin but falls within the category of a punishable crime”.
