ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s Shariat Appellate Bench on Thursday directed that the Punjab government’s appeal against a ruling on the return of haq mehr in khula cases be brought to the attention of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to determine whether the provincial government wanted to continue pursuing the matter.
A five-member bench headed by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail heard the Punjab government’s appeal against a Federal Shariat Court ruling that had declared the relevant legislation contrary to Islamic injunctions.
During the hearing, the bench observed that the matter should be placed before the Punjab chief minister so that the provincial government could decide whether it wanted to proceed with the case.
Justice Shahid Waheed observed that Punjab was the only province to have introduced legislation requiring a woman seeking khula to return 50% of her haq mehr.
He questioned whether the Punjab government wanted to continue pursuing legislation that, in his view, affected women’s rights and asked whether the chief minister had been consulted regarding the continuation of the case.
Justice Mandokhail said the Punjab government should consider withdrawing the appeal and explain, in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, how the legislation could be justified.
He questioned how the government could determine through legislation what a woman should give up in a khula and how much of the dower she should return.
‘How can government take away right given by Quran?’
Justice Mandokhail observed that what a woman should give in a khula and how much she should return was a matter for her to decide, questioning how the government could take away a choice granted to her under Islamic principles.
Justice Shahid Waheed said the court would not compromise on the status and rights accorded to women in Islam.
He observed that haq mehr, once given to a woman, becomes her property and questioned whether its return could be made subject to a specific statutory condition.
Another member of the bench, Justice Malik Shahzad, referred to the incident involving the wife of Thabit bin Qais, who sought khula and returned a garden that had been given to her as a marriage gift.
He questioned how an act could be considered un-Islamic if it had not been prohibited, while observing that, in his view, prescribing a limit was not necessarily wrong.
Legal background
The Punjab government amended the relevant family law in 2015 to prescribe a mechanism for determining the portion of haq mehr to be returned by a woman seeking khula.
The legislation laid down a legal framework for determining the amount of dower that could be returned when a woman obtained khula.
The Federal Shariat Court subsequently declared the legislation introduced by Punjab contrary to Islamic injunctions.
The Punjab government challenged the Federal Shariat Court’s decision before the Supreme Court, where the matter is being heard by the Shariat Appellate Bench.
The Supreme Court adjourned further proceedings until October 8, when the matter is expected to come up for further hearing.