Islamabad (Pakistan News): The Supreme Court has issued a landmark judgment restoring women’s inheritance rights, directing that sisters and the mother be given their lawful and Sharia-compliant share in ancestral property after a delay of 71 years.
In a detailed 13-page verdict authored by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, the case was heard at the Supreme Court Registry in Lahore. The apex court set aside all previous decisions of the trial court, appellate court, and High Court.
The court observed that protecting women’s inheritance rights is not only the responsibility of the state but also of civil society, religious scholars, revenue authorities, and legal experts to ensure that such rights are not violated under any circumstances.
The judgment stated that inheritance is a legal and religious right of women, and depriving them of it is both unconstitutional and un-Islamic. It further held that fake gifts (Hiba), fraud, or family pressure cannot be used to deny women their rightful share, and courts must remain vigilant in such cases.
According to the case record, after the father’s death in 1955, two brothers transferred the inherited property in their names and relied on an alleged oral gift to deprive the mother and sisters of their shares.
The court noted that lower courts wrongly accepted the oral gift without properly examining the burden of proof, and their decisions were not in line with facts and law.
The Supreme Court further observed that although the High Court argued the alleged oral gift was not challenged for a long time, the burden of proof still lay on the party benefiting from it.
The court also noted that the mother and sisters had received income from the property for several years, indicating they were not fully aware of the alleged gift.
On this basis, the Supreme Court restored the women’s inheritance rights and ordered that they be given their lawful share in the property.