Mother's right of custody after second marriage
PLJ 2017 Lahore 115 · Lahore High Court (Multan Bench)
This case was about who should have custody of two young children, a girl and a boy, after their parents' marriage broke down. The children's grandmother had applied for custody, arguing that the mother had remarried a man outside the family and the father was in prison over unpaid maintenance. The family courts had sided with the grandmother, removing the children from their mother's custody mainly because the mother had remarried.
The Lahore High Court overturned these decisions. It held that the mother remarrying a stranger, by itself, is not automatically a valid reason to deny her custody of her children. The court also clarified an important legal point: the usual order of preference for custody (mother, then mother's mother, then other relatives) only applies when the father is deceased or absent, not while the real father is alive and capable of claiming custody. Since the father never actually came forward to seek custody or support his own mother's claim, the grandmother's petition was essentially filed on her own initiative, which the court found insufficient grounds for taking children away from their mother.
The court also noted the children had never actually lived with the grandmother, so there was no bond to protect, while the father had failed to pay maintenance for his children.
Ultimately, the court ruled that the children's welfare was best served by remaining with their mother, restoring her custody rights. This case reinforces that remarriage alone does not disqualify a mother from custody under Pakistani law.
یہ مقدمہ اس بات سے متعلق تھا کہ والدین کی ازدواجی زندگی ختم ہونے کے بعد دو کمسن بچوں، ایک لڑکی اور ایک لڑکے، کی تحویل کس کے پاس ہونی چاہیے۔ بچوں کی دادی نے تحویل کے لیے درخواست دائر کی تھی اور یہ مؤقف اختیار کیا تھا کہ ماں نے خاندان سے باہر کسی اجنبی شخص سے دوسری شادی کر لی ہے جبکہ والد عدم ادائیگیِ نان و نفقہ کے باعث جیل میں ہے۔ فیملی عدالتوں نے دادی کے حق میں فیصلہ دیتے ہوئے بچے ماں کی تحویل سے لے لیے تھے، اور اس کی بنیادی وجہ یہی تھی کہ ماں نے دوبارہ شادی کر لی ہے۔
لاہور ہائی کورٹ نے ان فیصلوں کو کالعدم قرار دے دیا۔ عدالت نے قرار دیا کہ محض ماں کا کسی اجنبی شخص سے دوبارہ شادی کر لینا خود بخود اس بات کی جائز وجہ نہیں بنتا کہ اسے اپنے بچوں کی تحویل سے محروم کر دیا جائے۔ عدالت نے ایک اہم قانونی نکتہ بھی واضح کیا کہ تحویل کے لیے ترجیح کی مروجہ ترتیب (پہلے ماں، پھر نانی، پھر دیگر رشتہ دار) صرف اس ص