LHC upholds divorced woman’s right to house as dower

• Dismisses husband’s appeal against lower courts’ decisions • Rules technical objections over ordinary stamp paper cannot defeat proven matrimonial rights LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has upheld concurrent judgements of two lower courts granting a divorced woman possession of a house as dower (haq mehr), ruling that a separately executed dower agreement was valid and enforceable even though the property was not mentioned in the nikahnama (marriage certificate). Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi of the LHC dismissed a petition filed by Muhammad Khan, who had challenged decisions of a family court and an appellate court in Chiniot in favour of his former wife, Anwar Bibi. The woman claimed that on the day of their marriage in 2017, the petitioner executed an agreement promising her a constructed five-marla house in Canada Colony, Chiniot, as dower and also undertook to pay Rs300,000 in the event of divorce. After the marriage ended in 2021, she sought recovery of the house, its market value, maintenance for the iddat period and the contractual amount. However, the husband denied executing the agreement, alleging that it was fabricated and asserting that the property belonged to his first wife. He argued that the agreement was written on ordinary stamp paper instead of an e-stamp paper and that the nikahnama mentioned dower of only Rs5,000. Rejecting these arguments, Justice Sethi held that family courts have exclusive jurisdiction over dower disputes and observed that the agreement clearly fixed the house as haq mehr. The judge noted that both attesting witnesses to the agreement testified in support of its execution and remained unshaken during cross-examination. He further observed that the petitioner opposed forensic examination of his signatures and thumb impression on the document, a conduct that justified drawing an adverse inference against him. “The refusal of the petitioner to permit forensic examination substantial...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan