- Seven-page judgment, authored by Justice Minallah before resigning, calls inheritance a ‘divinely bestowed’ and constitutional right
- Apex court orders creation of a mechanism to help women claim shares without delay, terms customs like Chaddar, Parchi, Haq Bakhshwai ‘un-Islamic’ and void
- Two-member SC bench rejects appeal in 22-year-old family dispute over 2002 inheritance
ISLAMABAD: In a strongly worded ruling underscoring both constitutional guarantees and Islamic injunctions, the Supreme Court has held that the state is duty-bound to ensure that every Pakistani woman receives her rightful share in inheritance—a right it described as “divinely bestowed” and one that cannot be obstructed by culture, custom, or coercion.
The court also called for the creation of a proactive state-run mechanism to help women claim their entitlements without delay, fear or dependence on protracted litigation.
The observation came in a seven-page judgment released on Saturday, authored by Justice Athar Minallah for a case heard by him and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan on August 29. The decision was penned before Justice Minallah resigned on November 13 in protest against the newly passed 27th Amendment, which he said effectively replaced the Supreme Court with the Federal Constitutional Court as the country’s highest judicial forum.
“It is incumbent upon the state under the Constitution and the clear Injunctions of Islam to ensure the effective and unfettered realisation of women’s right to inheritance,” the order declared.
The SC bench dismissed an appeal filed by Abrar Hussain against a March 3, 2023, Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict. The SHC had upheld earlier orders—including a 2021 ruling that refused his plea against a 2019 trial court judgment—in a long-running property dispute between Hussain and his sister, Bibi Shahida.
Shahida had filed a complaint in March 2015, stating she had repeatedly demanded her share in the family property after their father’s death in 2002 and after two siblings passed away later, but Hussain refused to distribute the estate. The judgment noted that Hussain “took exclusive possession of the property, thereby depriving the other legal heirs of their lawful shares.”
Justice Minallah wrote that the petitioner “had no case on merits and yet persisted in litigation”, thereby prolonging the deprivation of inheritance that legally devolved on the heirs as of 1.1.2002. He termed the challenge before the Supreme Court an attempt to “delay and frustrate the rights of the other legal heirs,” calling it an “abuse of process.”
The judgment stressed that the state must ensure “every woman is informed of and enabled to claim her rightful share in inheritance without delay, fear or dependence on lengthy litigation,” and must establish an “accessible mechanism” to identify and assist women in securing their entitlements. It added that those who deprive women of their inheritance “through coercion, deceit or undue influence” must be held accountable.
Citing the Federal Shariat Court’s landmark March ruling, the verdict reiterated that customs such as Chaddar, Parchi, or Haq Bakhshwai—which deny women inheritance—are “un-Islamic” and have no legal standing. The SC held that inheritance rights are “not a concession granted by human law but a divinely ordained command,” and that any obstruction is a transgression against divine will. Such societal practices, it said, are “remnants of ignorance which Islam came to abolish.”
The court warned that a society that ignores the denial of women’s inheritance “defies the spirit of the Constitution and the express Command of Almighty Allah,” adding that a state failing to safeguard these rights neglects its duty to uphold “equity, faith and justice.”
In its short order, the Supreme Court imposed a cost of Rs500,000 on Hussain, to be deposited with the SC registrar within seven days. The amount is to be distributed among the legal heirs identified by the trial court.
The judgment recalled that Shahida’s 2015 complaint alleged Hussain had illegally occupied the property, rented out part of it without consent, and withheld rental income from other heirs. Her siblings supported her claim, while Hussain argued the property had been gifted to him during their father’s lifetime. The trial court rejected this stance in October 2019, declaring all siblings legal heirs and ordering partition—or sale—of the property along with payment of mesne profits. His subsequent appeals were dismissed in 2021 and again by the SHC on March 3, 2023.
