No cash sans cohabitation, observes CJP

Admits divorced woman’s petition regarding alimony, observing it raises an important issue

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib has observed that a divorced woman cannot claim a maintenance allowance from her husband without having ever fulfilled conjugal requirements.

He gave the remarks on Friday while hearing an appeal moved by a divorced woman seeking directives for her former husband to pay her 'maintenance' for the two-year period she remained his wife.

Ambreen Akram of Faisalabad filed the appeal, submitting that her husband divorced her after two years of their marriage [nikah]. She, however, accepted that she never went to her husband's house.

She requested the court that she should at least be paid a maintenance allowance for the two years during which she had the status of being the wife of the defendant.



CJP Nisar questioned Akram’s counsel on how a woman could claim maintenance if she had not fulfilled conjugal rights. "In our society, no court can force a husband and wife to live together as it creates bigger problems," he observed.

However, the CJP admitted appeal of the lady, observing that she had raised an important question about whether a divorced woman who had never lived with her husband could claim maintenance.

"This legal question is important which must be determined in light of the Muhammadan law," Justice Nisar observed. The court later adjourned for an indefinite period.