ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has established that a divorce claim cannot be converted into Khula without the express consent of the woman involved.
According to Dunya News, Justice Musarat Hilali authored a five-page decision, which was agreed upon by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi. The two-member bench ruled that the court cannot automatically change a divorce claim into Khula and overturned the decisions made by the Family Court and the Peshawar High Court. They ordered petitioner Naila Javed to pay 1.2 million rupees as dowry.
Naila Javed had filed a petition to dissolve her marriage on the grounds of cruelty and legality. However, instead of addressing the allegations of cruelty, the Family Court dissolved the marriage based on Khula. Consequently, the Family Court ordered the woman to forfeit her dowry without her request for Khula.
The Supreme Court clarified that a divorce claim cannot be converted into Khula without the woman’s explicit consent. Furthermore, the husband had remarried during the proceedings, which violated Section 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance. The husband admitted that he did not seek permission or approval from the Arbitration Council for his second marriage, and also failed to provide alimony to his wife. During cross-examination, the woman faced humiliation, and all these factors were considered acts of cruelty under the law. Therefore, the Supreme Court concluded that the woman’s refusal to live with her husband should not be deemed disobedience.
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