Islamabad:
The Supreme Court has asked the federal government and the provincial governments to review the ‘Nakahnama form’ to be easy to use, to effectively safeguard the rights of the parties, particularly women.
A bank of three members of the Apex court, led by Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, said that without reviewing Nikahnama’s form as a whole, the positive step given by the Punjab government may not achieve the planned objective of protecting women’s rights.
The Nikahnama form has been prescribed in the 1961 ordinance and was notified as part of the 1961 rules schedule. However, the Federal Government is empowered to establish rules with respect to the areas of cliff and provincial governments in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
According to a 22 -page sentence, written by Judge Athar Minallah in a family dispute case, the expressions used in the current form of Nikahnama were ambiguous and, therefore, open to being misunderstood.
The sentence said that federal and provincial governments could consider reviewing the Nikahnama form “to make it easier to use”, so that “even a literate person of ordinary prudence has no difficulty understanding their requirements” and columns.
The sentence emphasized the need to eliminate the “ambiguities that probably arise from vague and ambiguous expressions used in the headers of the columns in the form currently prescribed” under the ordinance of 1961, read with the rules of 1961.
“This would not only protect the rights of the parties in general and the women in particular, but also reduce the litigation, since a easier way to use Nikahnama will lead to minor disputes,” the sentence said.
The court pointed out that Nikah could also be solemnized by a person who is not a Nikah registrar. However, he declared that integrity, competition, knowledge and understanding of Nikah registrars were crucial to effectively safeguard the rights of the parties, particularly women.
In the province of Punjab, the sentence continued, the 2015 law imposed a legal registrar on the Nikah registrar to accurately fill the Nikahnama columns with specific responses from the bride and the boyfriend.
The court said that a violation of this legal duty exposed a Nikah registrar to criminal consequences, that is, prison for up to a month and a fine of RS25,000. He added that the purpose was to protect women from exploitation and provide them with an expedited resolution of family disputes and auxiliary issues.
“The Legislature [Punjab Assembly] It was, therefore, aware of the challenges faced by women in the context of exercising their rights related to the solution of marriage terms and conditions, “Judge Minallah wrote.
“The 2015 Law, through which subsections (2a) and (4) (i) were inserted in section 5 of the 1961 ordinance, was definitely appreciable to ensure the rights of the parties, particularly women, taking into account the social and cultural norms prevailing in many parts of the country,” he said.
The court also said that in fact it was a step in the right direction to reduce the number of disputes and, consequently, the volume of litigation as well.
“However, we are of the opinion that without reviewing the prescribed form of Nikahnama as a whole, particularly the expressions used in the columns titles, this positive step given in the province of Punjab may not achieve its planned objective of protecting the rights of women in particular.”
Nikah’s registrars, according to the trial, had the most important role to ensure that each party exercised their rights and that entries registered in a Nikahnama correctly reflected their intention.
“It is a legal duty of each government to guide the union councils to establish appropriate qualifications and criteria for the grant of licenses to people to perform the functions of Nikah’s registrars,” he said.
“In addition, the training and evaluation of the performance of those who have been licensed would guarantee even more than social or cultural norms and influences do not prevail over the absolute rights granted to women under the law,” he added.
“Governments can also consider taking measures to ensure that integrity persons and those who possess the required qualification and knowledge are granted regular records and regular audits related to Nikahnames maintained by the union councils are carried out.”
The Court ordered the Office of the Registrar to send copies of this judgment to the Secretary of the Cabinet, the Pakistan government and the main secretaries of the respective provinces so that they could place it before the competent authorities and forums to consider the observations.
The court expected effective measures to guarantee the protection of the rights of the parties to a marriage contract, particularly the bride, which could be more vulnerable due to multiple factors, including cultural and social norms and beliefs.
