IslamabadPakistan’s Supreme Court lets wives divorce without proving cruelty.
Family courts had turned such claims into khula, a wife’s paid release, forcing 2 petitioners to return dower.
Shiqaq, a serious breach where reconciliation has failed, falls under section 2(ix) of the 1939 Act and needs no dower surrender.
Mere incompatibility, anger or a short separation does not qualify, the five-judge bench said.
Dower claims from Zainab Bibi and Imran Naz Begum return to be determined under the 1939 Act.
How each outlet framed it
- Dawn leans favorable
- broadens dissolution grounds to marital discord (shiqaq) without proving cruelty; clarifies residuary clause 2(ix) of 1939 Act
Sources: Dawn