In a significant ruling, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has mandated that a husband who marries again without the consent of his first wife must immediately pay the full dower, or Haq Mehr, to her. Justice Abid Hussain Chattha delivered the judgment, which modifies previous lower court decisions, and ordered the husband to pay Rs1 million as dower, along with Rs15,000 monthly maintenance, subject to a 10% annual increase, until the effective date of divorce. This decision stems from a petition filed by Mehnaz Saleem, who sought recovery of her deferred dower and maintenance after her husband, Kashif Iqbal, contracted additional marriages without her consent. The court found that the husband's verbal claim of divorce was legally insufficient, as "mere assertion of oral talaq was insufficient," and thus the marriage remained valid, as reported by Dawn and Tribune Latest.