LHC gives custody of minor to mother

Purported agreement through jirga rejected

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court’s Justice Sadiq Mahmud Khurram has handed over the custody of a minor boy to his mother, rejecting an agreement reached at a ‘jirga’ through which he had been sent with her ex-husband.

The judge observed, “Any agreement, though disputed by the petitioner, even if executed with regard to handing over the custody of the minor, has no value in the eyes of law and cannot be relied upon.”

The woman had sought the custody of her son from her former husband. She prayed to the court to recover the boy from the her ex-husband.

The petitioner said the child had been taken away from her on the pretext of visiting her father. However, the respondent claimed that his son had been handed over to him as a result of an agreement reached between him and the petitioner on the intervention of a jirga.

Justice Khurram observed, “There can be no dispute that questions concerning the custody and guardianship of minors cannot be settled by a private compromise or even by arbitration. An agreement of this nature, therefore, cannot be enforced. If an agreement is entered into by a female which appears unconscionable on the face of it, there is a rebuttable presumption that the agreement was entered into by coercion and undue influence.

"No effective rebuttal is forthcoming to show as to why the petitioner would voluntarily part with her minor son. Hence the purported agreement to hand over the custody of the minor to the respondent ex-husband has no value in the eyes of the law.”

The respondent had presented an alleged sworn affidavit of the petitioner dated November 18, 2020 on a stamp paper, to the effect that in compliance with the decision of the jirga the petitioner had surrendered custody of the minor with her consent to him.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2021.