Full dower once Nikah and consummation are proved; a house’s value is assessed at today’s market price

Judgment at a glance

Legal issue

Where a husband denied the marriage altogether but the registered Nikah was proved, could the courts below award only half the dower and refuse maintenance and dowry because consummation was not proved; and could he avoid his child's maintenance by disputing paternity?

Decision

No. Once the Nikah was proved through the Nikah Khawan and the Union Council Secretary and the husband's denial failed, consummation was a private matter that needed no further proof, no issue had been framed on it, and the later birth of a child during the marriage made it irrelevant. The wife was held entitled to her full dower (Rs. 5,000 and a five-marla house), with the house's value, if needed, to be fixed by the executing court at the current market value; Rs. 200,000 as the depreciated value of her dowry (gold and silver ornaments and items of daily use excluded for want of proof); and maintenance of Rs. 15,000 a month, the figure agreed in Column 20 of the Nikahnama, from the date of the suit with a 10% annual increase (following Ambreen Akram v. Asad Ullah Khan). In the connected case, the decree for the child's maintenance against the father and grandfather was upheld: a child born during a valid marriage is presumed legitimate under Article 128, so a DNA test was rightly refused (PLD 2015 SC 327). The husband's and grandfather's petitions were dismissed.

Key principle

Once a registered Nikah is proved, the wife is entitled to her full dower and maintenance without separate proof of consummation; a child born during a valid marriage is presumed legitimate under Article 128 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat, which a DNA test cannot displace; and the alternative value of a house given as dower is fixed at current market value.

Outcome

Partly allowed

Relevant law

Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984, Art. 128; Constitution of Pakistan 1973, Art. 199

Why it matters

• For property dower, ask for the property; if its value is substituted, insist on current market value.
• A husband who denies the marriage and loses cannot then rely on 'no consummation' to cut dower or maintenance.
• Disputing a child's legitimacy to avoid maintenance meets the strict presumption in Article 128; a grandfather of means may also be liable.

Cite as: Benish Ghaffar v. Additional District Judge and 2 others (with connected petitions), 2025 LHC 5759, 2026 MLD 507, Lahore High Court, W.P. Nos. 1829 of 2024, 3493 of 2022 and 3949 of 2025, decided 22 September 2025

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