In a relief to Pakistan's jailed same sex couple, the Supreme Court on Thursday granted them bail, staying the three-year sentence awarded to them by the Lahore high court.
Admitting a petition filed by Shumail Raj, who underwent sex-change operations to become a man, and Shahzina Tariq, a three-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas granted them bail on a surety bond of Rs 50,000 each.
The two were serving a three-year sentence awarded to them by the Lahore court on May 28 on the grounds that they were women and had married in violation of the tenet of Islam and the Constitution which do not permit same-sex marriages.
The couple, who married last year, had approached the court for protection against harassment by Shahzina's relatives.
However, the judge convicted them of "perjury" for lying about the gender of Raj.
The high court in its judgment said that it took a "lenient view" and had given a "lighter sentence" because they had tendered an unconditional apology.
On the court's order, the two were kept in separate prisons. While Raj, 31, was kept in a women's lock-up at the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Shahzina, 26, was lodged in Faislabad jail.
The couple's lawyer Babar Awan in his arguments before the apex court said the high court had failed to take various aspects of law and delivered a "harsh" and "unconstitutional" judgment.
He argued that the investigation recommended to determine the gender of Raj was not conclusive in the medical report presented before high court.
"Gender determination test is a standard operating medical procedure and unless that is done, nobody can determine what is the gender of a particular person," Awan said.
He contended that Pakistan's Constitution does not object to two women living together while the high court judgment observed that a lesbian marriage was not acceptable under the Islamic code of conduct.