Whatsapp

" `JUSTICE, EQUITY AND GOOD CONSCIENCE' `JUSTICE, EQUITY AND GOOD CONSCIENCE' AND MAINTENANCE FOR CHILDREN OF CHARISTIAN PARENTS   By   Lucy Carroll   The 1981 repeal of Chapter XXXVI of the Cr.P.C. potentially leaves children of the minority Christian community in a vulnerable position. Curiously, the law applicable to South Asian Christians in regard to maintenance has generally been considered to be English common law, which imposes only a moral obligation upon the father to maintain his offspring. It was left to the criminal law to convert the father's moral obligation into a legally enforceable duty. The maintenance provisions of the Cr.P.C, were particularly helpful in regard to the child of Christian parents. Has that child in Pakistan now been turned adrift on the sea of life without the possibility of obtaining succor from the father who begot him?   In matters not covered by statutory law and in the absence of recognized and established custom, the Court is directed, to have recourse to `justice, equity and good conscience.' More than a decade and a half ago, the Lahore High Court reinterpreted the phrase `justice, equity and good conscience,' substituting for the implied reference to a foreign legal system, a reference to Islamic principles. Haji Nizam Khan v. District Judge' concerned the liability of a Muslim grandfather for the maintenance of the impoverished children of his predeceased son. Ironically, there was no dispute between the parties as to the liability of the affluent grandfather for the maintenance of his destitute and fatherless minor grandchildren, assuming that Muslim law were applicable to the suit. The grandfather attempted to argue that there was no provision of law which rendered Muslim law applicable in Pakistan to…