LAHORE - The Punjab Assembly on Friday passed 11 bills of which five promise more rights to women, aimed at settling their marriage and property disputes.
The bills passed in record time of just 45 minutes are about women’s welfare and settlement of their issues of marriage and property. They are Family Courts Act, 1964, Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967, Punjab Partition of Immovable Property Act, 2012, and Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961.
All the five bills were tabled in the assembly, after suspending rules of procedure and without referring them to the standing committees over which the opposition walked out of the house.
The Punjab Assembly’s session started on Friday with Acting Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani in the chair with a delay of more than one hour.
Under the Muslim Family Laws Bill, it is now mandatory for nikah registrars to fill all the columns of nikahnama to save women from exploitation of their rights while the nikah registrars failing to do so will have to face penalty. In order to discourage a second marriage by a man, amount of fine has been increased if he violates the law.
According to the amendment in the Child Marriage Restraint Act, an adult who marries a minor shall be liable to punishment of maximum six months and a fine of Rs 50,000.
The amendments in the Family Courts Bill aim at resolving the family disputes on fast track. In case of Khula, a court may direct a woman to surrender up to 50 percent of her deferred dower or up to 25 percent of her prompt dower to the husband.
The other six bills were Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Bill, 2015, Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Punjab Sound System (Regulation) Bill, 2015, and Punjab Prohibition of Writing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
In the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order(Amendment) Bill, 2015, those involved in supporting, propagating or promoting any terrorist or terrorist activity will be liable to 6 months to 3 years imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 200,000.
Under the Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Bill, 2015, no one can use any sound system beyond 10 yards from a public place. A sentence of six months with a fine of Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 can be awarded to the violators.
In the Punjab Prohibition of Writing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the offence has been made non-bailable, besides increasing the amount of fine up to Rs 100,000.