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Pakistani Family Law Judgments
Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court and High Court judgments on Khulla, divorce, custody, maintenance and more, summarised in plain English by our lawyers and reviewed by an advocate.
Showing 31–60 of 67 judgments
A 17-year-old who refuses to live with her father cannot be forced back or kept in a shelter through habeas corpus
Muhammad Mustafa v. District Police Officer, etc.
Issue: Can a father use a habeas petition to recover his 17-year-old daughter, who says she wants to live with her maternal aunt…
Held: No. The girl told the Court she feared her stepmother and chose to live with her khala. The Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 can be used only with the aggrieved person's consent (s.15), and proceedings under Part…
s.15, Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016s.4, Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004s.491, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
A husband cannot sue to take back bridal gifts: they belong to the wife
Simra Arif v. Additional District Judge, Lahore & 2 others
Issue: After divorcing his wife, can a husband sue in the Family Court for the return of gold ornaments and a diamond ring…
Held: No. Item 9 of the Schedule gives the Family Court jurisdiction over the personal property and belongings of a wife and of a child living with the mother, not of a husband. Following Muhammad Sajid v. Shamsa Asghar (PLD 2025…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.2, Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act 1976s.5, Family Courts Act 1964
A judgment debtor’s CNIC cannot be blocked to enforce a maintenance decree
Nasir Ali Ranjha v. Addl. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Can an executing court order NADRA to block a judgment debtor's CNIC under section 51(e) CPC to force payment of a family…
Held: No. A CNIC proves a person's identity and cannot be taken away without due process, and section 51(e) CPC cannot be read to permit blocking it in execution, following the Supreme Court's order of 18 February 2026 in Agha Abid…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.18, National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance 2000s.51, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
A father who already has the children can still ask to be declared their guardian
Fareha v. Asad Bashir etc.
Issue: Can a father, as natural guardian with physical custody of his four daughters, petition under section 7 of the Guardians and Wards…
Held: Yes. Section 7 speaks of both appointing and declaring a guardian, recognising that a person may already be guardian in law yet seek formal affirmation; section 19(b) limits the court's power but does not bar a natural guardian from applying.…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.19, Guardians and Wards Act 1890s.25, Guardians and Wards Act 1890s.7, Guardians and Wards Act 1890
Past maintenance for 12 years upheld where the husband admitted she was unmaintained
Muhammad Anwar v. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Can a Family Court award past maintenance going back more than six years, which the husband said is the outer limit under…
Held: Yes, on these facts. In his written statement, seeking restitution of conjugal rights in answer to the wife's suit, the husband admitted in writing that she had been unmaintained since 2012. A husband who asks for his wife's return admits…
Art. 120, Limitation Act 1908Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
A late challenge cannot stall execution of a family decree that is over ten years old
Pathani Mai v. District Judge, Lodhran, etc.
Issue: Can a person to whom a husband transferred land in 2009, after his wife sued him for dower and maintenance, challenge more…
Held: No. The petition was barred by laches: it came more than a year and five months after the 2024 mutation with no explanation. On the merits, the wife's suit for dower and maintenance was filed on 13 July 2009, before…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.12-A, Family Courts Act 1964s.14, Family Courts Act 1964
Deferred dower with no stated time is payable on demand, even during the marriage
Fatima Bibi v. Additional District Judge, Sheikhupura & 2 others
Issue: Must a wife wait for divorce or her husband's death to claim dower that the Nikahnama calls 'deferred' without saying when it…
Held: No. Section 10 of the Ordinance provides that where the mode of payment of dower is not specified, the whole dower is payable on demand, and it draws no distinction between prompt and deferred dower; the legislature knew that distinction,…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961s.6, Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961
Maintenance of Rs 5,000 a month or less cannot be appealed, or challenged by writ instead
Nazir Ahmad v. Judge Family Court, Khairpur Tamewali etc.
Issue: Can a grandfather ordered to pay Rs 3,500 a month for each of two grandchildren, while their father lives abroad and does…
Held: No. The father had moved to Saudi Arabia and was not maintaining the children, and the grandfather's own evidence showed he was financially sound (he owns grain-grinding machines) and closely associated with his son; where the father absents himself, an…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.14, Family Courts Act 1964
A working wife may share in property acquired during the marriage; dowry claim sent back
Mst. Amara Waqas v. Muhammad Waqas Rasheed and others
Issue: Was the appellate court right to refuse a working wife any share in household articles she said she bought after the marriage,…
Held: The appellate court went wrong. The wife, a former Pakistan Air Force officer, said her parents gave cash rather than traditional dowry, and the husband himself admitted that no dowry articles were given at the marriage and that he had…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.2, Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act 1976s.5, Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act 1976
Parents agree a detailed meetings schedule; the court asks Sindh to reform interim custody rules
Mst. Aqsa Abdul Ghaffar v. Irfan Muhammad Saleem and others
Issue: In a wife's petition against decrees for dower, maintenance and dowry, how should the High Court respond when it emerges that the…
Held: The financial claims were settled at the hearing: the claim to gold stayed rejected for lack of evidence, and the husband undertook to pay the balance of the appellate decree (Rs. 162,000 of Rs. 295,500) within a month and future…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 25, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 35, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.12, Guardians and Wards Act 1890
Missing section 342 statement: remand, not automatic acquittal
Noor Ahmad v. The State, etc.
Issue: If the trial court never recorded the accused's statement under section 342 Cr.P.C., must the appellate court acquit him, or can it…
Held: The appellate court can send the case back. Failing to examine the accused under section 342 Cr.P.C. vitiates the conviction as recorded, but acquittal is not automatic: section 423 Cr.P.C. lets the appellate court order a retrial from the stage…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.20, Family Courts Act 1964s.262, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898s.263, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
Dowry decree: the wife chooses between the articles and their value, and obstruction earns special costs
Afzal Bibi v. Addl. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Under a decree for dowry articles or, in the alternative, their value, can the husband refuse to return the articles and insist…
Held: No. Under such a decree the choice between the articles and their value belongs to the decree holder, not the judgment debtor, and the executing court cannot force the substitution on her; a husband who says the articles are available…
Sindh: in Khula the wife returns dower she received, as the Nikahnama shows
Amna Jatoi v. Jahanzeb
Issue: Was a Khula decree rightly made subject to the wife returning 30 tola of gold recorded in the Nikahnama as dower paid…
Held: Yes. She never pleaded that the Nikahnama entries were wrong or that she signed blank papers; it was for her to prove that dower recorded as fully paid was not paid, and she led no evidence and did not call…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 35, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Family Courts Act 1964
A further marriage without permission makes deferred dower payable at once
Mehnaz Saleem v. Kashif Iqbal and 2 others (with Kashif Iqbal v. Mehnaz Saleem)
Issue: Is a wife entitled to her deferred dower, and to maintenance, when divorce is not proved but the husband, while married to…
Held: Yes. Section 6(5) of the Ordinance is a statutory exception to the rule that deferred dower falls due on death or divorce: a husband who marries again without permission must pay the entire dower, prompt or deferred, at once (following…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.6, Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961
In children’s maintenance the court must find the facts itself, including who should pay
Muhammad Saeed v. Judge Family Court, etc.
Issue: Could a paternal uncle be held liable to maintain his late brother's child, where the suit was brought against the grandfather, who…
Held: The decree was set aside and the appeal sent back. Nothing in sections 5 and 17-A or the Schedule of the Family Courts Act confines liability for a child's maintenance to the father; who the defendant should be depends on…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.17-A, Family Courts Act 1964s.5, Family Courts Act 1964
No second appeal in family cases, but the High Court can still fix a workable visitation schedule
Shafqat Ali v. Mst. Rimsha (and connected petitions)
Issue: After a Family Court decree and one appeal on Khula, dower, maintenance and dowry, and one guardianship appeal, can the High Court…
Held: Not as a second appeal. The Family Courts Act gives no second appeal and the Guardians and Wards Act allows one, which both sides had used; re-appraising evidence in writ jurisdiction would substitute a second appeal (following 2023 SCMR 1434…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Family Courts Act 1964s.47, Guardians and Wards Act 1890
Foreign maintenance orders: avoiding a duplicate child-maintenance claim in Pakistan
Muhammad Muneeb Arshad v. Mst. Ammara Mahroof and others
Issue: Where an Irish court has already fixed a child's maintenance and the father is paying it, can a Pakistani Family Court run…
Held: No, on these facts. Living abroad does not by itself oust a Pakistani Family Court's jurisdiction under Rule 6, but where a competent foreign court has fixed the child's maintenance and it is being paid, the same claim cannot run…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973r.6, Family Courts Rules 1965s.10, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.11, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
Failed reconciliation does not mean Khula must follow: the wife’s real wish decides
Muhammad Kora v. Judge Family Court, Multan, etc.
Issue: Must a Family Court dissolve a marriage by Khula whenever pre-trial reconciliation fails, even though the wife has not said she wants…
Held: No. Section 10 obliges the Family Court to make a genuine attempt at reconciliation and, if it fails, empowers it to dissolve the marriage, but it does not require a Khula decree in every case where reconciliation is declared failed;…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 35, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Family Courts Act 1964
Gold ornaments claimed as dowry need strong proof; an affidavit of uncertain origin is not enough
Abdul Jabbar v. Mst. Saba Kausar, etc.
Issue: Could a decree for gold ornaments (a bracelet, two rings and a 3-tola necklace) claimed as dowry stand, where the courts below…
Held: No. A bride ordinarily keeps her gold ornaments, so a wife claiming them from the husband must plead and prove how he came to take them, whether during good relations or by snatching; section 7(2) of the Family Courts Act…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 2, Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984s.7, Family Courts Act 1964
A dowry claim joined to a maintenance and dower suit stays in the court where the wife lives
Muhammad Ahmad Tariq v. Judge Family Court, D.G. Khan, etc.
Issue: Where a wife sues in the place she ordinarily resides for maintenance, dower and dowry articles, without asking for dissolution, can the…
Held: No. Rule 6 allows a suit for dissolution or dower to be filed where the wife ordinarily resides, and the proviso to section 7(2) of the Family Courts Act, which lets a dissolution plaint include dowry, maintenance, dower and other…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973r.6, Family Courts Rules 1965s.7, Family Courts Act 1964
A wife’s withdrawal of dower and maintenance claims can be recalled if she lacked independent advice
Asif Iqbal v. Additional District Judge etc.
Issue: Can a wife who withdrew her suit for dower, dowry and maintenance in court, without her own lawyer or independent advice, have…
Held: Yes. Statements recorded in court are ordinarily treated as conclusive, but the rule is not absolute: the court must examine whether the act was truly voluntary and free from undue influence or fraud. Here she came to court with only…
Khula can be granted while a suit challenging the Nikahnama is pending
Muhammad Irfan v. Judge Family Court, etc.
Issue: Must a Khula suit wait because the husband says the marriage was void, as the wife had earlier marriages that were never…
Held: No. The marriage was admitted and the husband produced no documents or evidence that any earlier marriage was subsisting; a bare assertion cannot displace the presumption of validity of an admitted marriage. A pending declaratory suit against the Nikahnama does…
A vague Talaqnama does not prove a family decree was satisfied
Ejaz-ur-Rehman v. Additional District Judge etc.
Issue: In execution of a decree for dower, dowry and maintenance, can the husband have his arrest warrants cancelled by relying on a…
Held: No. Apart from the mutual consent to divorce, the Talaqnama's terms were vague: it recorded no amount, no alternative payment for the dowry and no mode of satisfying the decree, and the husband's own objection petition said her entitlements would…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.47, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
A property transfer soon after marriage, with no sign of payment, can discharge dower
Tanveer Ahmed v. District Judge, Rahim Yar Khan, etc.
Issue: Was four marlas of land, mutated to the wife as an 'oral sale' from her father-in-law within a month of the marriage,…
Held: Payment of dower. The husband bought the land from his father and had it mutated directly to his wife within a month of the marriage, with no consideration from her; she admitted in cross-examination that her husband had transferred the…
Art. 129, Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
Supreme Court: cruelty need not be physical, and a cruelty case cannot be turned into khula
Dr. Seema Hanif Khan v. Waqas Khan and others
Issue: Can a Family Court grant khula of its own accord to a wife who sued for dissolution on statutory grounds, and what…
Held: No court may grant khula without the wife's clear consent; filing a suit for dissolution is not a request for khula. Grounds under the 1939 Act are proved on the balance of probabilities, and cruelty, which may be mental and…
Art. 14, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 25, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 35, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
A husband who ignored a Khula and maintenance suit cannot use section 12(2) or a writ to undo the ex parte decree
Muhammad Sohail v. Mst. Ambreen Jamal and others
Issue: Can a husband who was served by bailiff, courier, pasting and publication, was debarred from filing a written statement and did not…
Held: No. The service reports disproved his claim of non-service; under section 12(2) he had to plead and prove fraud, misrepresentation or lack of jurisdiction, and he produced no credible material. Both courts below concurrently rejected his application, revision under section…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.115, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.12(2), Code of Civil Procedure 1908
A house recorded as dower in the Nikahnama is owed, despite a ‘sale’ between the couple before the Nikah
Mst. Saima Rani v. Addl. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Can the dower entry in a registered Nikahnama (a five-marla house in Column 16) be set aside on the assumption that a…
Held: No. The registered Nikahnama carries a presumption of truth; it recorded the house as dower with no note that it had already been paid. The husband never pleaded that the earlier sale discharged the dower; his written statement said no…
A polygamy complaint is tried by the Family Court, and appeals go to the District Judge
Muhammad Asif v. The State and another
Issue: Can a Court of Sessions decide an appeal against a Family Court's judgment convicting a husband on a complaint of polygamy under…
Held: No. Under Article 175(2) a court has only the jurisdiction given by the Constitution or law, and a decision by a court without jurisdiction is void. The Ordinance names no trial forum, but sections 5 and 20 of the Family…
Art. 175, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 270AA, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.14, Family Courts Act 1964s.20, Family Courts Act 1964
Full dower once Nikah and consummation are proved; a house’s value is assessed at today’s market price
Benish Ghaffar v. Additional District Judge and 2 others (with connected petitions)
Issue: Where a husband denied the marriage altogether but the registered Nikah was proved, could the courts below award only half the dower…
Held: 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…
Art. 128, Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
A wife who says she was orally divorced cannot later claim the marriage continues for lack of a certificate
Nusrat Sadiq v. Nadeem Asghar etc.
Issue: Where the wife herself pleaded that her husband pronounced talaq three times by telephone, and he admitted it, does her maintenance run…
Held: No. Her own plaint asserted the divorce and claimed deferred dower on that basis, and the husband admitted it in his written statement filed through his attorney; admitted facts need not be proved, and a husband may plead and depose…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.7, Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961