The Criminalization of Cruelty within the Malaysian and Pakistani Family Laws: A Comparative Analysis

Ghulam Dastagir, Faridah Hussain, Daleleer Kaur Randawar, Sheela Jayabalan

2018

Abstract

The Muslim Family laws of Malaysia and Pakistan are based on Shari’ah, however they are codified laws administered by modern day judicial system. Under these Muslim family laws, cruelty or inhuman treatment can be a fault-based ground for the dissolution of a marriage and an avenue for legal remedies. Cruelty causes mental and emotional trauma and may create intolerable conditions within spouses, also detrimental to the children. In Pakistan, the problem is that the intention of framers of the Muslim family law are of protection of the innocent rather than to punish the transgressor, therefore, divorce is possible, however no retribution for the offending spouse. Conversely, cruelty or ill-treatment is a punishable offence under the Islamic family laws of Malaysia. Adopting descriptive and analytical qualitative case study approach for this exploratory study, the authors have argued that family courts in Pakistan are under legal obligation to decide matrimonial issues with inclusion of cruelty and an appropriate venue dealing family violence. Hence, with the more appropriate sentencing approaches, this paper intends to introduce a new offence of cruelty or ill-treatment of spouses into the Pakistan’s family laws.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Dastagir G., Hussain F., Randawar D. and Jayabalan S. (2018). The Criminalization of Cruelty within the Malaysian and Pakistani Family Laws: A Comparative Analysis.In Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC, ISBN 978-989-758-482-4, pages 281-286. DOI: 10.5220/0010054402810286

in Bibtex Style

@conference{i-nlac18,
author={Ghulam Dastagir and Faridah Hussain and Daleleer Kaur Randawar and Sheela Jayabalan},
title={The Criminalization of Cruelty within the Malaysian and Pakistani Family Laws: A Comparative Analysis},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,},
year={2018},
pages={281-286},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010054402810286},
isbn={978-989-758-482-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,
TI - The Criminalization of Cruelty within the Malaysian and Pakistani Family Laws: A Comparative Analysis
SN - 978-989-758-482-4
AU - Dastagir G.
AU - Hussain F.
AU - Randawar D.
AU - Jayabalan S.
PY - 2018
SP - 281
EP - 286
DO - 10.5220/0010054402810286