Govt Rejects Bill to Ban Dowry

A National Assembly body has rejected a proposed law seeking to outlaw dowry in Pakistan, dismissing it as unworkable despite growing concern over the practice’s impact on women.

During a meeting of the NA Standing Committee on Interior, a bill tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Sharmila Faruqui was turned down, with members terming the draft “impractical”. The session was chaired by MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz.

Faruqui’s bill aimed to criminalize dowry and set out punishments for those demanding or giving it under pressure, while still allowing parents to present voluntary gifts to their daughters. Committee members, however, were in agreement that the law could not be implemented in its current form and declined to endorse it.

Following the meeting, Faruqui took to X to express her disappointment over the tone of the discussion, saying the arguments made appeared to encourage dowry instead of curbing it. She stressed that dowry was not a benign cultural tradition but a form of coercion that reduces women to objects.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that withholding dowry or maintenance from a woman based on alleged infertility is unlawful. Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, heading a two-judge bench, criticized the way infertility, or suspicion of it, is used as a tool against women in court, calling it a “sorrowful” social practice that turns litigation into a means of humiliation.

Separately, the Council of Islamic Ideology last year recommended changes to the Dowry and Bridal Gift Act. In its 239th meeting, the body proposed increasing the punishment for violations from a maximum of six months to up to one year in prison.

It also advised revising financial caps set decades ago, suggesting that the dowry limit be raised from Rs. 5,000 to the value of two tolas of gold, and that the ceiling on marriage expenses be tied to the same benchmark.