Write a short note on the Non-payment of prompt dower.

Question: Write a short note on the Non-payment of prompt dower. [HJS 1998]

Find the question and answer of Muslim Law only on Legal Bites. [Write a short note on the Non-payment of prompt dower.]

Answer

Under the Mohammedan Law, mahr or dower is a sum of money or other property payable to the wife in consideration of her marriage; but "consideration" does not mean the same thing as under the Contract Act, 1872. It is an obligation imposed upon the husband as a mark of respect for the wife.

The amount of dower is usually split into two parts, one called "prompt," which is payable on demand, and the other called "deferred," which is payable on dissolution of marriage by death or divorce.

Prompt dower is payable on demand. It may be demanded by the wife even before the consummation of marriage takes place. If the husband sues the wife for restitution of conjugal rights (the rights, especially to sexual relations, regarded as exercisable in law by each partner in a marriage.) before the consummation of marriage the non-payment of prompt dower is a complete defense to the suit. The right to claim prompt dower proceeds with co-habitation and cannot be said to come into existence along with co-habitation.

It was held in Smt. Nasra Begum v. Rejwan Ali, AIR 1980 All 118, that

"the wife can refuse to live with the husband and admit him to sexual intercourse so long as prompt dower remains unpaid."

In a Full Bench decision in Nawab Bahadoor Jung Khan v. Mt. Uzeez Begum, (1843-46) S.D.N.W.P. 180 (F.B.), the nature of prompt dower is explained as follows:

"Nevertheless the Court considers the nature of the exigible dower to be that of a debt payable generally on demand after the date of the contract, which forms the basis of the obligations and payable at any period during the life of the husband, on which that demand shall be actually made, and therefore until the demand is actually made and refused, the ground of an action at law cannot properly be said to have arisen, nor the law of limitation becomes applicable. The Court remark that in an ordinary bond for debt, the lender has stipulated or demanded to be repaid on the particular date specified in the bond, and there is an actual infraction of the agreement equivalent to a refusal of the requirement to repay should the debtor fail to liquidate the loan on the stipulated date; and here clearly commences the ground of an action in Court for recovery of that which is due; but in the case of an obligation to pay on demand, such as the Court regarding the obligation to pay the exigible dower to her, there is no infraction of the obligation until the demand is made and refused, and consequently no cause of legal suit has arisen". 

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