A British High Court judge has declared a divorce granted in Pakistan under Islamic law is invalid in the UK. The decision was ruled by Mrs. Justice Arbuthnot of the London High Court.
According to the details, a Pakistani man and woman had brought their divorce case to the London High Court. The couple who married 14 years is going through a divorce process after separation.
The couple decided to take their cases to court to determine whether the woman’s first divorce granted in Pakistan was valid in the UK. Justice Arbuthnat presided over the case in Family Court and listened to the arguments of the man and the woman.
Asim Hussain, who is the second husband of a woman named Nazia, said in the court that his 14 years long marriage to Nazia should be annulled. He made the claim on the basis of Nazia’s first marriage and said that she was still married to her first husband when she got married to him.
Asim Hussain took the position that Nazia Parveen’s divorce from her first husband was based on Islamic principles alone and therefore should not be recognized under British law.
Nazia Parveen, on the other hand, disagreed and told the court that her divorce from her first husband should be recognized in England as it fulfilled all requirements according to her faith. She requested the court to declare her first divorce final and legal.
After listening to both parties, Justice Arbuthnot ruled in favor of Asim Hussain, saying that a divorce granted in Pakistan was not acceptable in the UK. The justice said that her ruling was limited within the legal jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.
The court ruled that a divorce based on Islamic principles can not be accepted in the UK as different laws apply in England and Wales. However, the judge stated that her decision would not affect divorce and other marriages in Pakistan.
In February last year, a British court had overturned a ruling in a Muslim couple’s case two years ago, which said that their marriage solemnized under Islamic rites also grants them the legal right to divorce.
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