Woman awarded damages, 30 years after suing her ex

Karachi 

A woman finally won a legal battle for damages in the Sindh High Court that upheld a decree in her favour on Wednesday, 30 years after her spouse divorced her and carried out a campaign to besmirch her reputation.

Abida had filed a lawsuit for damages against her ex-spouse Mohammad Ameen in 1986, accusing him of using a false medical report about her health condition in the divorce deed and causing damage to her reputation in her community.

A single high court bench had on September 17, 1998, decreed in her favour and directed her ex-spouse Ameen and Dr MK Manjiani, who issued the false medical certificate, to pay Rs75,000 each with markup in compensation. 

Amin had claimed that Abida, who then worked in the government industries corporation, had been suffering from gynaecological diseases prior to their marriage. He said she had urinary tract infection of serious nature, and she never told him about it. He said his wife’s medical condition had come to his knowledge later when she was given medical treatment by their family doctor. 

The false medical certificate said: "It is certified that Mrs. Abida Ameen was treated by me after her marriage for many time.

“She has got Urinary Tract Infection and some serious Gynaecological diseases. Her UTI is leading her to Chronic Renal failure. She had got many mental symptoms of Hallucination and psychosis.”

The high court decree was challenged by Ameen and the doctor, who submitted that the medical certificate upon which much emphasis had been placed was produced in the family court was a privileged document; hence, no adverse inference could be drawn against them on the basis of that certificate.

Their counsel, Khalid Javed, contended that the amount of decree for damages was arbitrary and the impugned judgment was not sustainable in the law.

The respondent counsel, Farrukh Usman and Amir Maqsood, said the SHC’s single judge had rightly come to conclusion that the appellants had defamed their client and made her life miserable and nobody would marry her as she was leading a lonely life after being defamed. 

They argued that Ameen levelled a false allegation against her while divorcing her and managed to get a false and fabricated medical certificate from a private doctor, and that certificate could under no circumstances be presumed a privileged document.

Besides, they said the appellant circulated the divorce deed and the medical certificate in the community with ill will to defame her.

They requested the high court to dismiss the appeal and modified the court order to the extent of the respondent’s claim for Rs1,500,000.

The court observed that the medical certificate issued by the doctor was tainted with malice and appeared to be fictitious, concocted or issued on instructions from the appellant, ex-spouse of the respondent. 

It observed that there was no illegality or irregularity in the impugned judgment and dismissed the appeal, upholding the decree against the appellant.