Violence in response to a woman's refusal to marry 'profound shame' on society's conscience: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has expressed deep regret over the violence that stems from a man's inability to obtain a woman's consent to marriage, stating that it is a shame on any civilized society. In a nine-page judgment, Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar highlighted that the sole motive behind such violence is the man's wounded ego, as he failed to secure the woman's hand in marriage.

The court dismissed a criminal review petition by Muhammad Kamran, who received a death sentence for murdering a woman after she and her family rejected his marriage proposal. The court emphasized that marriage is a mutual and voluntary agreement necessitating the free consent of both parties, and a woman's refusal should not be met with violence.

The court also referred to various customs, such as ghag, suara, and watta-satta, which demonstrate the patriarchal mindset that devalues a woman's consent. These customs, the court noted, are criminalized by law and declared as non-bailable offenses. The judgment emphasized that a woman has the fundamental right to freely choose her spouse and enter into marriage only with her consent, in line with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).