Muhammad Ali Khan Paracha V. Mst. Binish and 2 others,
MLD 2016 258 · Balochistan High Court
This case involved a husband (Muhammad Ali Khan Paracha) challenging court decisions that required him to pay dower (Haq Mehr) and maintenance to his former wife, Mst. Binish.
The couple married in 1998, with dower fixed at Rs. 500,000 payable on demand. In 2002, the wife was divorced and left the husband's home with their daughter. She filed suit in 2009 seeking the unpaid dower, maintenance for herself during the waiting period after divorce (iddat), and maintenance for the child, plus some gold jewelry.
Both the Family Court and the appellate court ruled in her favor on the dower and child maintenance (the appellate court removed the iddat maintenance). The husband then approached the High Court, arguing he had already paid the dower and that the claim was filed too late, beyond the three-year limitation period under the Limitation Act.
The High Court rejected both arguments. It found that the husband's own witnesses admitted during cross-examination that the dower had never actually been paid. On the limitation issue, the court clarified that the three-year clock for dower claims starts only when the wife demands payment and the husband refuses it - not simply from the date of divorce. Since the husband never clearly refused payment until he denied owing it in his written statement during the lawsuit, that was the actual starting point for limitation, making the 2009 suit timely.
The petition was dismissed, and the lower courts' rulings stood. This case clarifies how limitation periods for dower claims are calculated under Pakistani law.
یہ مقدمہ ایک شوہر (محمد علی خان پراچہ) سے متعلق تھا جس نے عدالتی فیصلوں کو چیلنج کیا تھا جن کے تحت اسے اپنی سابقہ بیوی مسماۃ بنش کو حق مہر اور نان نفقہ ادا کرنے کا پابند کیا گیا تھا۔
اس جوڑے کی شادی 1998 میں ہوئی تھی اور حق مہر پانچ لاکھ روپے مقرر ہوا تھا جو بوقت طلب ادا کیا جانا تھا۔ 2002 میں بیوی کو طلاق دی گئی اور وہ اپنی بیٹی کے ہمراہ شوہر کا گھر چھوڑ گئی۔ اس نے 2009 میں مقدمہ دائر کیا جس میں غیر ادا شدہ حق مہر، طلاق کے بعد عدت کے دوران اپنے نان نفقہ، بچی کے نان نفقہ، اور کچھ سونے کے زیورات کا مطالبہ کیا گیا۔
فیملی کورٹ اور اپیلیٹ عدالت دونوں نے حق مہر اور بچی کے نان نفقہ کے معاملے میں اس کے حق میں فیصلہ دیا (اپیلیٹ عدالت نے عدت کے نان نفقہ کو خارج کر دیا)۔ اس کے بعد شوہر نے ہائی کورٹ سے رجوع کیا اور موقف اختیار کیا کہ وہ پہلے