Islamabad:
The Supreme Court has asked the federal government as well as the provincial governments to review the ‘Nakahnama form’ to make it user-friendly, which effectively protects the rights of the parties, especially women.
A three-member bench of the peak court, led by justice, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, noted that without reviewing the Nikahnama form as a whole, the positive step taken by the Punjab government does not achieve the intended goal of protecting women’s rights.
The Nikahnama form is prescribed in the regulation in 1961 and notified as part of the schedule of the rules in 1961.
According to a 22-page verdict, author of Justice At Har Minallah in a family conflict case, they were expressions used in the current Nikahnama form, ambiguous and therefore open to being misunderstood.
The verdict said that the federal and provincial governments may be considering reviewing the Nikahnama form “to make it more user-friendly”, so “even a literary person with ordinary caution does not have difficulty understanding its demands” and the columns.
The judgment emphasized the need to remove the “ambiguities that are likely to arise from the vague and ambiguous expressions used in the headings of the columns in the form prescribed” under the 1961 regulation read with the rules in 1961.
“This would not only protect the rights of the parties in general and women in particular, but would also reduce litigation, as a more user -friendly prescribed form of Nikahnama will give rise to minor disputes,” the verdict said.
The court noted that Nikah may also be solemnly by a person other than a Nikah registrar. However, it said that integrity, competence, knowledge and understanding of the NIKAH registrators were crucial to effectively protecting the rights of the parties, especially women.
In the Province of Punjab, the verdict continued that the 2015 law imposed the Nikah registrar a statutory to exactly fill all the columns in Nikahnama with specific answers from the bride and groom.
The court said that a violation of this statutory duty postponed a NIKAH registrar for penalties, ie. imprisonment for up to a month and a fine of RS25,000. It added that the purpose was to protect women from exploitation and give them quick resolution of family disputes and aids.
“The legislature [Punjab Assembly] was therefore aware of the challenges facing women in exercising their rights relating to the settlement of the conditions and conditions of marriage, ”Justice Minallah wrote.
“The law of 2015, through which sub -section (2a) and (4) (i) were deployed in section 5 of the regulation in 1961, was certainly noticeable to secure the rights of the parties, especially the women, considering the social and cultural norms that prevailed in many parts of the country,” he said.
The court also said it was actually a step in the right direction to reduce the number of disputes and consequently also the volume of litigation.
“However, we are of the opinion that without undergoing the prescribed form of Nikahnama as a whole, especially the expressions used in the headlines on the columns, this positive step taken in the province of Punjab may not achieve its intended goal of protecting women’s rights.”
The Nikah registrators, said the verdict, had the most important role in ensuring that each party exercised her or his rights and that the items registered in a Nikahnama correctly reflected their intention.
“It is a statutory duty for each government to guide the union councils in establishing sufficient qualifications and criteria for the allocation of licenses for persons to perform the functions of the NIKAH registrators,” it said.
“In addition, the training and evaluation of performance for those who have been licensed would further guarantee that the social or cultural norms and influences are not prevalent of the absolute rights assigned to women under the law,” added it.
“Governments may also consider taking steps to ensure that people with integrity and those who possess the required qualification and knowledge are awarded licenses and regular revisions of the record of Nikahnamas maintained by the trade union councils are performed.”
The court ordered the Justice Secretary Office to send copies of this judgment to the Cabinet Secretary, the Government of Pakistan, and the main provincial secretaries so that they could place it for the competent authorities and forums to consider observations.
The court expected that effective steps would be taken to ensure the protection of the parties’ rights to a marriage contract, especially the bride, which may be more vulnerable due to several factors, including the cultural and social norms and beliefs.
