this article was picked up by some gulf newspaper and circulated and came back to the karachi metbloggs site. somebody should really do something about authors getting credit when a story gets picked up by the international media.
Up to 800 court weddings take place each day
By Uroos Ahmed
KARACHI: A rough average of 500 to 800 court marriages are taking place on a daily basis, shows a cursory survey of the city courts and surrounding law firms.
“The reason for this is obviously our social and cultural values which are misinterpreted as religious values,” said advocate Raheel during ongoing marriage proceedings. It is an easy process and according to the Constitution there is no law stating parental consent is needed once the parties are of age; i.e. 18 years and above.
Court marriages are mostly an option for schoolgirls and young boys suffering from family pressure. “We often get well-educated people who appear to belong to good families,” Advocate Babar said. “They take this way out for three reasons: a couple can’t convince the parents they are sincere about getting married, a man wants to marry for a second time and a third reason is financial problems.”
In addition to this, sometimes a typical “filmi drama” plays out in the court if the girl belongs to a poor family and the boy goes against his parent’s will, or vice versa. There is also the possibility that either party is marrying for money, or they also opt for court marriages if social norms do not agree with the situation that the young people find themselves in.
A couple getting married in court at the time refused to comment for reasons of anonymity. “This is a confidential matter. The consequences arising from the marriage are personal, not legal,” they said.
General consensus among the lawyers who spoke to Daily Times was that at least 75 percent of these marriages get annulled later, since most of them are not consummated. The parties come in with all the required documentation and witnesses. In a majority of the cases, they sign the contract and go back to their respective homes instead of actually running away from home and living together.
Court marriages are mostly an option for upper- and lower-middle classes people. We seldom get high society clients or lower class clients, some lawyers said. They blamed social pressures for this. The general assumption about people who got their nikkahs annulled was that they were married off to someone chosen by their parents.
Another common form of court marriage takes place when a man married without the knowledge or permission of his existing wife. Such cases are said to be quite frequent. The law requires, however, for the husband to acquire the consent of his first wife before he opts for a second marriage. Earlier, however, nikkahs performed without the consent of the first wife was said to be void, but reformed high court rulings now accept the marriage contract while awarding damages for not having an authority letter signed by the first wife.
People generally elope in order to escape from the custom of arranged marriages. “The basic principle behind a marriage contract is for it to be binding forever and with the availability of leverage such as divorce, it is a shame that parents would disregard their children’s decisions,” advocate Raheel said. “Parents want what is best for their children but they forget that in the advanced age today, there are opportunities for interaction between the two sexes and a certain know-how of how the world works. It is therefore best to not impose decisions on young people.”
Court marriage at a glance
* The woman has to give a statement of free will to the magistrate to the effect that she is of age and is marrying of her own free will.
* The registrar makes the marriage certificate.
* Both parties sign it along with the witnesses.
* An order of the magistrate is signed, completing the proceedings
The whole matter costs Rs 2,000 at the most.
Advocate Riaz Alam Khan
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