Court declares woman ‘innocent’ of Net affair

Father wins custody

By Jaber Al-Hamoud

KUWAIT CITY, March 11: The Misdemeanor Court of Cassation has nullified the verdict of the lower court that sentenced a married woman and another person to three months in prison with hard labor. The Supreme Court thereby pronounced the duo innocent of allegedly using social media “Instagram” to perpetrate immoral act.

The case file indicated the husband of the accused woman saw by chance the photo of his wife in an indecent manner on Instagram. He read a comment by an unknown person with a pseudonym consoling the woman over an incident that happened between them in their matrimony privately. He claimed to have seen the same picture on two other pages, and concluded that his wife was involved in an intimate affair with the other person.

In her defense, Lawyer Thamer Mubarak said the investigation revealed that the woman didn’t have any private affair with the man in question since there was no record of phone calls or other forms of communication between them. He said the Cybercrime Department also verified possible calls between the two accused but none was found. He pointed out the Court of Appeals didn’t carry out a thorough investigation to find out facts regarding the incident.

Mubarak

Father wins custody:

The Family Court rejected granting custody of three children to their mother of Emirati nationality, and instead granted it to their Kuwaiti father.

According to the case file, the mother had filed for the custody of her children who were living with her in the United Arab Emirates and demanded the father to bear their expenses including the house, driver and a car worth KD 20,000.

Lawyer Mubarak Al-Khashab, who was representing the father, urged the court to grant the custody to his client instead of their mother, explaining that his client had married the plaintiff in the United Arab Emirates and they were blessed with three children. However, she refused to live with him in Kuwait. He stressed that such an attitude from the mother is against the rights of his client that is guaranteed to him by the personal affairs Law No. 51/1984.

Verdict overruled:

Administrative Circuit at the Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of First Instance Court that rejected the application to nullify annual evaluation of a Ministry of Defense employee who was rated ‘weak’ in 2014. The appellate court thereby dismissed the previous ruling and associated effects.

Lawyer Ali Al-Ali representing the plaintiff affirmed that his client was employed by the ministry in 2000 and he climbed the promotion ladder to become Head of Duties Department. He used to be evaluated ‘excellent’ each year, because as a role model of dedication. He was surprised when the Assistant Director of Administration rated him ‘weak’ due to misunderstanding between them.

His client submitted a petition against the decision but he didn’t get any response for a redress. He pointed out that the concerned assistant director wasn’t the direct authority supervising his client and that his direct supervisor was not even aware of the decision, indicating it was fraught with ambiguity and illegality.