FSC declares denial of women's inheritance rights 'un-Islamic'

Federal Shariat Court has declared that any custom by virtue of which any female member of a family is being or has been denied or deprived of her right of inheritance, which is granted by the Holy Quran and Sunnah as un-Islamic, hence having no legal force whatsoever.

"We have concluded that the inheritance right of women, if denied, under any form and manner whatsoever on the pretext of local custom or usage, is un-Islamic, although the respondent departments, i.e. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Commissions on the Status of Women and Ombudspersons are working rightly but there is a need that they must act continuously, more vigilantly and proactively to eradicate this social evil, rather crime from society, of depriving women in any manner from claiming their right of inheritance or putting them under disadvantage to claim their due share in their inheritance", says 20 pages judgement authored by FSC judge Dr Syed Muhammad Anwer.

A four members of FSC led by Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rehman heard the Shariat petition filed under Article 203-D of the constitution.

The petitioner Syeda Fouzia Jalaal Shah has raised an issue whereby women are being deprived of their due right to inheritance in their ancestral property on the pretext of a local custom despite the fact that such right of inheritance is specifically and categorically recognised by Islam in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

According to the petitioner, this custom is called Chaddar or Parchi, which is in vogue in the area of Bannu District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), whereby women are being deprived of completely from their right of inheritance in their ancestral property through Jirga or they are forced to take less valuable property as of their inheritance share by putting pressure upon her.

In addition to this, the petitioner has also sought a relief in-personam as her mother, Syeda Iftikhar Bibi, was allegedly deprived of her share in her father’s and husband’s inheritance due to the local custom or usage which the petitioner named as Chaddar or Parchi, hence the petitioner also sought a personal relief for her mother from this Court through the same petition.

The judgement noted that as most of state departments have also acknowledged the need of the use of the penal law under PPC as amended, to eradicate this social evil from the society, we are of the considered view that the relevant provincial departments, which are responsible to rectify this social evil of the society and protecting the property rights of the women so granted to them by the Holy Quran and Sunnah, may also initiate criminal case against the perpetrator of the crime of serious and grave cases under Section 498-A of PPC, which is introduced in the Pakistan Penal Code vide the Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Act, 2011, as it was the object and reason of this amendment in the PPC

"It is also noted that from the response of the respondent, an important aspect is revealed that there is a need of understanding the gravity and seriousness of this crime in the staff of that relevant departments of the governments too."

For instance in this case they all acknowledged that women are being deprived of their right of inheritance yet they denied that no such custom or usage with the name of Chaddar or Parchi exists.

Here they are required to understand the important aspect of any such case, that is the name of illegal action is not relevant but the act itself is important.

Hence, while formulating the data and statistics regarding the denial of inheritance rights of women the relevant department, like the Commission on the Status of Women, must also categorise those different ways and the manners in which this heinous crime is being perpetrated, such efforts will help the relevant authorities to protect women from deprivation of their rights of inheritance in more efficient manner.

"It is clear from the statistics available and reports submitted by the parties that such criminal practice, whereby women are deprived of their right of inheritance, is quite common. In this regard generally a core illegal practice is commonly known as (Haq Bakhshwai) or (Haq Bakhshwana), which literally means “giving up of rights”, is in vogue throughout the country in different forms, whereby the perpetrators or usurpers try to give a kind of legal cover to their illegal and criminal actions, whereby either forcibly or by emotionally blackmailing the female members of the family are asked to relinquish their right of inheritance in favour of male members.

The court rejected the Shariat Petition to the extent whereby the petitioner has sought a relief in-personam being out of the scope of the jurisdiction of this Court.

However, the petition is partially accepted whereby the petitioner is seeking a relief to declare a local custom, which according to her is prevalent in District Bannu, K-P with the name of Chaddar or Parchi, and the basis of which women of that area are being deprived of their rights of inheritance in their ancestral property, hence we declare any such custom or usage which either exists with the name of “Chaddar” or “Parchi” or with any other name in the area of Bannu District of K-P or in any part of any province of the country, as un-Islamic and illegal having no legal force whatsoever by virtue of which the right of inheritance of women is denied wholly or partly from their ancestral property which they have inherited or any other practice which deprives women from their right of inheritance, which is granted by the Holy Quran and Sunnah, is un-Islamic and against the principles of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, hence void and illegal, and may be subject to punishment also.

We further declare that all or any such custom or usage, which affects the rights of inheritance of women in any manner whatsoever, irrespective of the name by which it is called or known in any area of the country, is un-Islamic and illegal and calls for actions against the perpetrator of such crime under Section 498-A of PPC, as such actions by the relevant authorities of the State falls within the scope of Amr bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar, which is an important duty of the State under the Act X of 1991 (Enforcement of Shari’ah Act, 1991).