Khula judgments: Pakistani family law case summaries
Pakistani court judgments on khula, summarised in plain English, newest first. Each gives the issue, what the court held and what it means in practice, and is reviewed by an advocate.
Our guide: Khulla in Pakistan: the complete procedure
16 judgments
Article 199 cannot be used as a second maintenance appeal
Jawad Ahmed v. Mst. Salma and others
Issue: Can a husband use the High Court's constitutional jurisdiction to reopen past and iddat maintenance already decided by the Family Court and…
Held: No. Article 199 is supervisory, not a second appeal; it is confined to patent illegality, jurisdictional defect, perversity or material misreading or non-reading of evidence causing a miscarriage of justice. As the husband only sought a fresh assessment of the…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.14, Family Courts Act 1964
To recover gold, the wife must prove the husband’s side kept it, not only that it was given
Mohsin Ali v. Mst. Sidra Bibi, etc.
Issue: Can a decree for six tolas of gold ornaments stand on proof, or an apparent admission, that gold was given to the…
Held: No. Giving the ornaments and their later snatching or retention are separate facts, each needing proof. A suggestion put to and denied by the husband's witness is not an admission; and the husband's failure to prove he was away from…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.17, Family Courts Act 1964
Before accepting Khulla, the court must explain what the wife gives up
Adeena Naz v. Judge Family Court/Guardian Judge Lahore, etc.
Issue: Where a wife sued for dissolution on cruelty and non-maintenance, then stated in court that she wanted Khula and would return her…
Held: Not without more. Her statement was an express request for Khula, so this was not a case of the court imposing Khula, but the court still had to ensure her election was informed and voluntary. Because the record did not…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.5, Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939
Supreme Court: a statutory dissolution claim cannot be turned into khula without the wife’s consent (shiqaq)
Mst. Zainab Bibi v. Muhammad Waseem and others; Mst. Iram Naz Begum v. Fazal Khaliq and others
Issue: When a wife sues for dissolution on the ground of cruelty and cruelty is not proved, can the Family Court grant khula…
Held: No. Converting a claim for statutory dissolution into khula without the wife's clear and voluntary election is an error of law. On the record, the Supreme Court sustained the dissolutions on the different ground of shiqaq under section 2(ix) of…
Art. 14, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 25, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 4, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
A prompt-dower entry proves the promise, not that payment was made
Mst. Amna Shaikh v. Imran Ahmed Shaikh and another
Issue: On khula, must a wife return dower that the Nikahnama records as prompt but which the husband cannot prove he paid; and…
Held: No. A Nikahnama entry that dower is prompt proves the obligation, not its payment; the husband who pleads payment must prove it, and the proviso to section 10(4) of the Family Courts Act requires restoration only of dower 'received by…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961s.10(4), Family Courts Act 1964s.14(2)(a), Family Courts Act 1964
A khula decree is final, but a disputed return of dower needs findings and can be appealed
Farhan Ahmed Bhatti v. Additional District Judge and others
Issue: When a Family Court grants khula and orders the wife to return dower only 'if any she received', without deciding the husband's…
Held: Yes. The dissolution by khula itself is final and not appealable, but the wife's liability to return dower or other benefits on khula must be decided by the Family Court, and an appeal lies on that question. The appellate court…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10(4), Family Courts Act 1964s.14(2)(a), Family Courts Act 1964
A wife’s ‘ordinary residence’ decides Family Court jurisdiction; permanent residence is not needed
Mst. Shagufta Bibi v. Additional District Judge, Jahanian and others
Issue: Could an appellate court throw out a wife's whole family suit (khula, maintenance and dowry) for lack of territorial jurisdiction because she…
Held: No. Under the proviso to Rule 6, the Family Court where the wife 'ordinarily resides' has jurisdiction in a suit for dissolution, and 'ordinarily resides' does not mean permanent or long residence: the court must decide from all the evidence…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973r.5, Family Courts Rules 1965r.6, Family Courts Rules 1965s.5, Family Courts Act 1964
Family cases must move fast: the court orders reports on suits pending over six months
Muhammad Iqbal Afzal v. Judge Family Court, etc.
Issue: Was the Family Court right to close a defendant husband's evidence after repeated warnings, in a khula, dowry and maintenance suit pending…
Held: Yes. The order sheets showed clear warnings and a last chance, and repeated dilatory tactics; fair hearing means a reasonable opportunity, not endless adjournments. The petition was dismissed and the Family Court directed to finish the case day to day…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.12-A, Family Courts Act 1964s.17, Family Courts Act 1964
Cruelty proved: dower stays in full, even after the Shariat Court ruling on section 10(5)
Arslan v. Nisha Shahid etc.
Issue: After the Federal Shariat Court declared section 10(5) and (6) of the Family Courts Act repugnant to Islam (PLD 2022 FSC 25),…
Held: Yes, the Family Court still decides dower on the facts of each case; the Shariat Court removed the fixed surrender formula, not that power. A decree is not Khula just because the word appears in the papers. Where the wife…
Art. 189, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Family Courts Act 1964s.2, Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939
Section 10(5) still applies while the appeal against the Shariat Court ruling is pending
Mst. Azka Afreen v. Hafiz Umar Yaseen and another
Issue: In a Khula decree where the marriage was never consummated, is the wife entitled to her dower, and must she surrender part…
Held: She is entitled to it, less 25%. The dower of fifteen tola of gold (five paid at the Nikah) plus one kanal of land with a house was marked 'on demand' and so was prompt; the husband's claim that the…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 203D, Constitution of Pakistan 1973Art. 203F, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.10, Family Courts Act 1964
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
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
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
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…
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