Family courts must rely on evidence, not patriarchal notions: Justice Ayesha

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that family courts cannot convert a suit for dissolution of marriage into one for khula without the wife’s clear and informed consent.

A two-member bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, issued a judgment in a case involving domestic violence and a woman’s right to dissolve a marriage, titled Dr Seema Hanif Khan versus Waqas Khan. The petitioner, Dr Seema Hanif Khan, had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against an order by the PHC dated May 27, 2024, which dismissed her petition seeking dissolution of her marriage. The SC, after allowing the appeal, set aside the judgments and decrees of the Family Court and the Peshawar High Court’s order to the extent of khula, dower and maintenance.