Pindi courts swamped with divorce cases

Hundreds of divorce, custody matters pending

RAWALPINDI:

The cases of divorce and separation in the Rawalpindi district witnessed a record increase in the family courts last year, indicating the collapse of family marriages.

Up to 47 Christian women and girls also took the liberty of the amendments in the Christian marriage divorce law and obtained divorces last year.

Since January 1 this year, a total of 3,207 women have obtained a divorce on the grounds of Khula, 431 girls ran away from their homes with the help of social media friends and got married, 380 women were reunited with their children, 67 women who left their husbands' homes to live with their parents were issued orders to resettle, while 3,319 men were ordered to pay compensations to wives and kids. Courts also ordered to return dowry to 124 women and 195 women to return Haq Mehar.

At present, 11,994 cases of divorce, separation, right of dower, return of goods and handover of children are under hearing in 20 family courts of the Rawalpindi district. All family courts have started giving dates in these cases in January and February 2025 instead of December 2024.

The rate of Christian divorce cases was five to 10 cases a year, but after the relaxation in the prevailing Christian law, Christian girls have a right to seek divorce and started approaching family courts for divorce.

It is found that love marriages linked to friendships on social media platforms like TikTok, WhatsApp, Messenger, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook have witnessed an increase.

A good number of women and girls, who sought divorce this year, were those who got influenced by social media contacts, ran away from their homes and got married.

Such marriages are based on falsehood, fraud and lies. Due to the overload of family cases, each family court hears 40 to 50 family cases daily. Each family judge has 300 to 400 family cases. Due to the continuous increase in family cases, the number of family judges needs to be increased.

Former District Bar Secretary and HRA Secretary General, Tayyaba Abbasi Advocate says marriages associated with social media friendship are destroying the family system.

In such marriages, the families of both the girls and boys also add fuel to the fire, she says and suggests girls do such marriages thoughtfully with parental support.

District Bar Association President Intizar Mehdi Shah is of the view that there is a lot of awareness, but families move courts with matrimonial disputes.

He suggests to reduce the divorce rate and family cases, there should be a strong mediation council at the UC level, which should include a respectable person of the area as a magistrate, who will understand the parties in family cases and make them agree to reconciliation.