Statement on Holy Quran in a Family Case
PLJ 2013 Lahore 329 · Lahore High Court (Multan Bench)
This case involved a husband who challenged a family court's decree ordering him to pay his former wife dower in the form of gold ornaments, Rs. 500,000 under a special condition in their marriage contract (Nikah Nama), and maintenance during her waiting period (iddat) after divorce.
During the trial, the husband himself proposed a special oath procedure: he offered that if his wife's grandfather swore on the Holy Quran that the conditions written in the Nikah Nama matched what the couple had actually agreed to at the time of marriage, then the case should be decided against him. The grandfather took this oath, and the husband and his lawyer acknowledged this with their thumb impression and signature. The Lahore High Court held that under the Oaths Act, 1873, this amounted to a binding admission that could not later be challenged, so the findings on the dower and ornaments stood.
However, the court drew a distinction regarding the Rs. 500,000 payment tied to wrongful divorce or expulsion from the house. It ruled that this amount was not dower or personal property, and therefore did not fall within the Family Court's jurisdiction—it was a civil matter that should be decided by a civil court instead. The special oath procedure could not expand the Family Court's powers beyond what the law allows. As a result, the petition was partly accepted, meaning this specific claim was set aside while the rest of the decree remained intact. The judgment highlights that courts must stick to their statutory jurisdiction even when parties agree to alternative methods of proof.
یہ مقدمہ ایک شوہر سے متعلق تھا جس نے فیملی کورٹ کے اس فیصلے کو چیلنج کیا تھا جس میں اسے حکم دیا گیا تھا کہ وہ اپنی سابقہ بیوی کو حق مہر کے طور پر سونے کے زیورات، نکاح نامے میں درج ایک خصوصی شرط کے تحت پانچ لاکھ روپے، اور طلاق کے بعد عدت کے دوران نان و نفقہ ادا کرے۔
مقدمے کی سماعت کے دوران شوہر نے خود ایک خصوصی قسم کا طریقہ کار تجویز کیا: اس نے پیشکش کی کہ اگر اس کی بیوی کے دادا قرآن مجید پر یہ قسم کھا لیں کہ نکاح نامے میں درج شرائط وہی ہیں جن پر نکاح کے وقت فریقین کے درمیان اتفاق ہوا تھا، تو مقدمہ اس کے خلاف فیصل کر دیا جائے۔ دادا نے یہ قسم اٹھائی، اور شوہر اور اس کے وکیل نے اپنے انگوٹھے کے نشان اور دستخط کے ذریعے اس کی تصدیق کی۔ لاہور ہائی کورٹ نے قرار دیا کہ قانونِ قسم 1873 کے تحت یہ ایک پابند کن اقرار تھا جسے بعد میں چیلنج نہیں کیا جا سکتا تھا، چنانچہ