• PHC decision on divorce upheld
• Ex-husband slapped with Rs500,000 cost payable to respondent within 30 days

ISLAMABAD: Noting the disturbing instances of abuse against women, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that using litigation to harass, humiliate, or harm a woman’s reputation constitutes abuse against women.

Heading a three-judge bench hearing a marital dispute, Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi regretted that frivolous proceedings, false criminal allegations and unwarranted character attacks during judicial processes operate in a manner that seeks to exert pressure, create stigma, and compel compliance through intimidation.

“The Supreme Court is not oblivious to the disturbing instances of abuse against women that continue to come to light across the country,” Justice Afridi noted in a judgement he authored.

The CJP-led bench, which also comprised Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, issued the judgement on a petition filed by Sultan against a 2018 ruling of the Peshawar High Court (PHC). The case stemmed from a marital dispute that had legally ended more than a decade ago but continued to cast a shadow over the life of Roshi Zeb, the divorced wife and respondent.

The SC observed the issue was not the legality of the khula (dissolution of marriage) but Sultan’s persistent refusal to accept the lawful dissolution of the marriage and use of legal proceedings to “harass the respondent” for exercising her legal rights.

During family court proceedings, it noted, the petitioner had failed to comply with interim custody orders and labelled the respondent a woman of ‘loose character’ after she accused him of beating her and forcibly expelling her from the matrimonial home while retaining the custody of their four-year-old daughter.

Despite the khula decree, according to the judgement, the petitioner refused to accept the finality of the divorce. After the respondent completed her iddat period and remarried, he launched a fresh round of litigation, including an application under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) seeking registration of a criminal case against her. He alleged she remained his lawful wife and had contracted a second marriage while the first marriage was still subsisting. He also made baseless allegations concerning the respondent’s sister.

Both writ petitions filed by the petitioner before the PHC were dismissed in February 2018, yet he continued what the court described as a campaign of harassment.

The nine-page judgement explained that given the vulnerabilities faced by women in society, such conduct undermined their social standing and professional opportunities and had a chilling effect on their access to legal and institutional protection. It regretted that in cases where a woman has remarried, such actions may also jeopardise settled family relationships and personal security.

“No court ought to permit its processes to be reduced to instruments of intimidation or to become vehicles for the perpetuation of abuse against women, whether physical, psychological, social or legal in nature,” the judgement emphasised. Instead, it added, frivolous and vexatious litigation, particularly when pursued to inflict personal or reputational harm, should attract a firm judicial response, including the imposition of appropriate costs.

Declaring the petition devoid of merit, the SC held it was founded on false premises, pursued with obstinacy, and intended not to secure justice, but to intimidate and punish the respondent for exercising her legal and religious rights.

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed with costs of Rs500,000, payable by the petitioner to the respondent within 30 days. Failing payment, according to the verdict, the amount shall be recoverable through execution proceedings before the relevant family court.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026