High Court passes verdict to reconsider Christian Divorce Act
According to current law, a Christian can only divorce his wife after accusing her of bad character
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Lahore High Court (LHC) passed the verdict to reconsider the Christian Divorce Act on Thursday.
Court held the hearing of an application by a citizen Ameen Masih, in which the applicant stated that according to Christian divorce Act’s section 10, a Christian can only divorce his wife after accusing her of loose character and proving it, otherwise the divorce does not become valid. There is no other act in the law which could be used to divorce a Christian woman without accusing her of bad character.
Ameen Masih’s lawyer Advocate Sheraz Zaka said that this way of divorcing the women hurt the moral status of the women in society. He said that Christian Divorce Law should have some sections according to which a woman could be divorced without hurting her self-respect and social status.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah referred the application to the Punjab Department of Law and to the Department of Minority Affairs and Human Rights, ordering to reconsider the law and add some sections in the law if possible that could allow a divorce without damaging the character of Christian women.
