No court marriages reported for 10 days

Applications for divorce also see a massive decline

RAWALPINDI: The social distancing amid novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken its toll on matters of the heart as well.

Officials at the Rawalpindi district family courts have said that owing to the measures announced by the district administration, not a single couple has approached them for the registration of contract marriages (court marriages) in the past 10 days.

Moreover, applications for divorce fell to just five in the past week, down from the average of 20, they said.

People have been so overwhelmed by the pandemic that other things have taken a back seat, they said pointing out that in the past week, no woman or girl had sought shelter at the Darul Amaan over domestic abuse or other abuse. No case of elopement was reported either.

Senior family lawyers including Sameena Bukhari, Masood Shah, and Najaful Hasnain confirmed the fall in cases when approached by The Express Tribune. However, they said that they are still unsure whether the drop in the number of cases was the result of the pandemic or part of a natural cycle.

The court records read by The Express Tribune showed that some 1,095 petitions were filed at the family courts, including those for the dissolution of marriage, from January 1 to March 10.

Amongst them, 21 women were issued khula decrees, while 37 women took shelter in Darul Amaan or Darul Falah.

The fall in cases comes even as the Rawalpindi district administration struggles to stop people from arranging wedding ceremonies across the district in wake of social distancing protocols being implemented to flatten the curve of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2020.