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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

62. False Evidence

A person is said to give false evidence when :

In any investigation or any matter carried out under the authority of Shari ’ah or Law or by a person authorized to carry out such investigation or matter under the Shari ’ah or Law to make an untrue declaration upon any such subject or to make a declaration hoping that it is or ought to be true or making a declaration not knowing or not confirming the true or untrue nature of that subject matter.

Any document, thing, gesture, writing, deletion or any other thing done which in an investigation or matter conducted under the authority of the Law or by a person authorized by such Shari ’ah or Law used or is likely to be used in any such proceeding and any person involved in such investigation or matter, any responsible official or judge makes a false opinion about the matter, or forms an erroneous understanding or opinion or decides the matter based on such erroneous opinion, and if such act could be reasonably construed to be likely under those circumstances giving of such declaration shall also be considered as giving false evidence. And where a person signs a document as a witness while there is an untrue statement in that document and signs the document as a true document and depending upon how such document maybe used subsequently the person who signs that document can be considered to have given false evidence. This shall be determined by the judge.

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

63. Penalty for giving false evidence

Whoever gives false evidence shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or subjected to fine not exceeding Mrf. 1,000.00 or exile or house detention not exceeding 2 years.

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

68. False oath

False oath for the purposes of this Law shall mean where the claimant is bound to give an oath in circumstances where he does not have any evidence to prove the claim instituted by him or where an oath is given by the defendant in accordance with the principals of Shari ’ah, where such oath is made before a judge in the name of god and on untrue premise.

69. Penalty for giving false Oath

Whoever makes a false oath shall be subjected to a punishment of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding Mrf. 1,000.00 or exile not exceeding 2 years.

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

70. Concealment of evidence in relation to a capital offence

Where whoever in a proceedings of a capital offence conceals any evidence of the commission of the offence or does any act that prevents any person searching for such evidence to fail in his endeavor or makes a statement with the intention to conceal or to deceive such evidence shall be subjected to a punishment of exile or imprisonment between a period of 2 years and 4 years or to a fine between Mrf. 300.00 and Mrf. 4,000.00.

71. Concealing evidence relating to offence for which punishment is a period of imprisonment or jail exceeding 10 years

Whoever conceals or does any act to prevent such evidence from being produced in relation to an offence for which the punishment prescribed is life imprisonment or life exile or exile or imprisonment for a period exceeding 10 years shall be subjected to exile or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 years or to a fine between Mrf. 200.00 and Mrf. 2,000.00

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

73. Concealment or destruction of document required for justice

Whoever conceals, destroys, puts fire on or loses a document that is required before Judicial proceedings or before a responsible official authorized by Law for the purposes of administering justice and where it is done in defense of the offender or offenders shall be subjected to a punishment of exile or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding Mrf. 500.00.

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

80. Public servant committing unlawful act to mitigate person’s punishment

Every public servant who commits an unlawful act for the purposes of saving a person from punishment or to mitigate the sentence awarded in respect of an offence committed by that person, he shall be subjected to exile or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding Mrf. 1,000.00.

Where any steps taken by public servants contrary to Law are suitable to facilitate prevention of punishment of an offender or mitigation of his punishment, such steps taken by public servants shall fall within the purview of this section. Any intentional alteration made by a public servant to a document of Shari ’ah or Law is also included within this Section.

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False Evidence, false oath and offences against Shari’ah and Law

85. Interruption of lawful judicial or legal proceedings

a. Whoever commits an act that is likely to interrupt or cause inconvenience to judicial or legal proceedings lawfully being conducted (except committing assault on the judge, person in his office or his officer) and does that act in contravention of Law and with intention or after having given a warning shall be subjected to a fine not exceeding Mrf. 500.00.

b. Where any act specified in Sub-section a. was committed intentionally involving assault on the
judge, his officer or staff, the offender shall be subjected to exile or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding Mrf. 1,000.00.

c. Where any acts specified in Sub-section a. was committed intentionally involving assault on the judge, or judges the offender shall be subjected to exile or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding Mrf. 1,500.00

d. Where an act specified in Sub-section a., b. and c. were committed being armed with a sword, a gun, sharp object or any other thing which if used as a weapon of offence can be likely to cause death of a person, then the offence mentioned in each of those Sub-sections shall be multiplied by three times and so shall be multiplied the punishment given in respect thereof.

Article 70
Offences against the administration of justice
1. The Court shall have jurisdiction over the following offences against its administration of justice when committed intentionally:
(a) Giving false testimony when under an obligation pursuant to article 69, paragraph 1, to tell the truth;
(b) Presenting evidence that the party knows is false or forged;
(c) Corruptly influencing a witness, obstructing or interfering with the attendance or testimony of a witness, retaliating against a witness for giving testimony or destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence;
(d) Impeding, intimidating or corruptly influencing an official of the Court for the purpose of forcing or persuading the official not to perform, or to perform improperly, his or her duties;
(e) Retaliating against an official of the Court on account of duties performed by that or another official;
(f) Soliciting or accepting a bribe as an official of the Court in connection with his or her official duties.