SC declares wife entitled to maintenance immediately after marriage

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court has ruled that for a wife to claim her right to maintenance (nafaqah), consummation of marriage or cohabitation is not required. Rather, it becomes the husband’s obligation to provide for his wife’s maintenance as soon as the marriage is solemnized.

A two-member bench, headed by Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, delivered the verdict on a petition filed by Anbarin Fatima challenging a decision of the Lahore High Court.

In its 15-page written judgment, the Supreme Court stated that the husband becomes liable to provide maintenance the moment he consents to the marriage.

The judgment further noted that a husband can only be exempted from providing maintenance if he proves that the wife was separated from him without justification or if the wife refused to establish marital relations with him without valid reason.

The case raises two fundamental questions at the intersection of Islamic law, constitutional rights, and social realities: when a Muslim woman becomes entitled to maintenance within marriage, and under what circumstances a man can be excused from providing for his wife.

The petitioner, Anbarin Fatima, had married Asadullah in November 2012. Despite a verified marriage contract, Asadullah did not formally take his wife home for over a year.

Anbarin Fatima filed a maintenance petition in 2013. The Family Court in Faisalabad granted her request, ordering Asadullah to pay her Rs. 3,000 per month, which was later increased to Rs. 5,000 by the District Court.

In May 2014, Asadullah divorced his wife. Subsequently, the Lahore High Court annulled the lower courts’ decisions, ruling that since marital relations were never established between the spouses, Asadullah was not obligated to provide maintenance.