Pak man challenges divorce Act?

Lahore: A Pakistani man on Friday challenged the nearly 150-year-old Christian Divorce Act in a court so that he could separate from his wife without accusing her of adultery.

Ameen Masih, who filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, said, "I want separation but owing to complications in the Christian Divorce Act of 1869, I have no other option but to level an allegation of adultery against her. I am not living happily with my wife over the past two years as I do not enjoy good relations with my in-laws."

He said: "With pain I have to admit that I accused my wife of adultery, which she never committed, in order to divorce her."

Masih said divorces under the act had been tarnishing the image of innocent Christian women. The act enacted during the British Raj has legal lacuna that should be done away with, he said. Section 10 of the act should be declared ultra vires and in contravention of the Constitution, he added.

"Only provision of divorce abridges the fundamental rights of Christians," he said. Masih asked the court to strike down the impugned section of the act so that Christian men could divorce their wives in a "dignified way".