FCC lays down safeguards to protect women’s inheritance rights

“ISLAMABAD: In a landmark ruling reaffirming the inviolable inheritance rights of women, the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday developed comprehensive safeguards requiring courts dealing with the enforcement of women’s inheritance rights to exercise heightened vigilance and judicial scrutiny. Authored by FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, the bench ruled that courts, revenue authorities and other forums entrusted with the adjudication, recognition or enforcement of inheritance rights, particularly those concerning female legal heirs, must ensure compliance with the principles formulated by the court while examining any compromise, relinquishment, family arrangement, settlement, gift, mutation, consent statement or other instrument that affects, curtails, compromises or extinguishes the inheritance rights of women. The FCC bench, also comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, heard an appeal filed by Bibi Amina and set aside the June 25, 2025, Balochistan High Court (BHC) judgement that had upheld a compromise agreement effectively disinheriting two sisters. The dispute arose from a suit filed by the petitioners, daughters and legal heirs of the late Abdul Rehman, including Bibi Sabza, against their brothers. They sought a declaration and separate possession of their respective Sharia shares in the estate left by their deceased parents. Courts must conduct heightened scrutiny of deals affecting female heirs, CJ rules During the pendency of the suit, a written compromise was purportedly reached between the parties, as a result of which the trial court passed a judgement on June 15, 2021, under Order XXIII Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC). The petitioners later filed an application under Section 12(2) of the CPC, alleging that the compromise had been procured through fraud, misrepresentation and concealment of material facts, and that their consent was neither free nor informed. The trial court allowed the application on Nov 8, 2022, setting aside the compromise decree and restoring the suit. The revisional court affirmed the decision on Aug 20, 2024. However, the BHC reversed these concurrent findings, dismissed the petitioners’ application and restored the compromise decree. “In a society where, regrettably, female legal heirs are frequently deprived of their divinely ordained and legally protected inheritance rights through subtle coercion, social pressure, manipulation and fraudulent devices, the courts are under a heightened obligation to scrutinise transactions affecting such rights with the utmost vigilance,” the 33-page FCC judgement stated. “The abhorrent practice of depriving women of their inheritance, by whatever means employed, must… be condemned in the strongest possible terms and eradicated with unwavering resolve,” the judgement declared. The principles developed by the FCC require that courts, while adjudicating instruments affecting the inheritance rights of female heirs, apply heightened judicial scrutiny by treating such matters as involving the protection of a vulnerable class. The judgement further held that the burden would rest heavily on the beneficiary of a transaction to affirmatively establish, through credible and unimpeachable evidence, that the instrument represented a free, informed and conscious act of the executant. Likewise, courts must ensure that it is established on record that the executant had a clear understanding of the nature of the transaction and the exact inheritance rights being affected or relinquished. It must also be established that the executant had access to independent, competent and disinterested advice sufficient to enable informed decision-making free from influence. Any transaction must be scrutinised to exclude the presence of coercion, fraud, misrepresentation, undue influence, or familial or social domination. Where consideration is alleged, courts will require strict proof that it was lawful, real, adequate and actually received in a verifiable manner, the judgement said. The contents of all documents must be shown to have been read, explained and translated into a language fully understood by the executant. The FCC further held that courts must verify that the executant was afforded a reasonable opportunity for reflection and consultation, free from haste or pressure. Moreover, any transaction that is prima facie unconscionable, one-sided or disproportionately prejudicial to a female heir will be subjected to strict scrutiny and disapproval unless fully justified by clear evidence. All suspicious or doubtful circumstances surrounding a transaction must be satisfactorily explained by the beneficiary; otherwise, an adverse inference will follow. In all such cases, courts must record an affirmative finding of voluntariness and informed consent before upholding any deprivation of inheritance rights. Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026

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