Three consecutive declarations of divorce declared "punishable" offence

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday declared pronouncing three consecutive divorces a "punishable offence".

The draft was approved by the council in a meeting chaired by Chairman CII Muhammad Raghib Hussain Naeemi and it was sent to the government for further approval.

The CII has proposed in a draft that the three consecutive vocalised sentences for divorce should be made an offence.

However, under the interpretation of Islamic law, the man divorces a woman in his nikkah by simply declaring his intentions three times, in contrast, women need the pronouncement of a Muslim judge, who is a scholar in the field of Islamic jurisprudence.

Apart from this, the meeting rolled out the bill presented by the PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar, proposing the wealth that has been collected by the man and woman after their wedding will be distributed between both equally.

However, the members of the council believed that the bill was against religious laws and was not “maintainable”.

The meeting also approved the draft regarding punishment for the violation of the Jahaiz Act. It was proposed that the violation’s punishment should be increased to one year from six months. 

Meanwhile, the amount of wedding expenses and dowry has been increased from Rs2,500 to the equivalent amount of two tola gold.

Additionally, the council recommended adding a column for the thalassemia test in the Nikkah Nama. However, it has not been decided whether it will be permitted for weddings if one or both partners test positive.