PESHAWAR: A woman has moved a family court to seek maintenance and custody of her two minor sons from her husband, who she calls ‘TikTok daddy’, saying he is fond of sharing his videos on the social media app and has also indulged his two sons in performing on the said app.

The petitioner claims that her husband, Waheed Murad, had contracted four marriages and she was his third wife. She said that from his marriages, he was having 13 children and had already divorced two wives before those four marriages.

The family Judge, Mr Samiullah Khan, after preliminary hearing issued notice to the defendant, Waheed Murad, for his appearance on April 2.

Two petitions were filed through advocates Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel and Mehwish Muhib Kakakhel.

The petitioner has alleged that the defendant after marrying women neither maintains them nor their children except those, who makes TikTok videos just like him.

She stated that two of her children had opted to make TikTok videos with their father after which he made them leave their studies and focus on Tiktok only.

Her counsel stated that the defendant was having 114,000 followers on Tiktok. They said that it was an irony that the defendant was namesake of former Pakistani film actor late Waheed Murad, popularly called as “chocolate hero.”

The grievance of the petitioner is that he is not maintaining her and her children. She alleges that he used to beat her for sending her children to school. She said that the defendant had also taken away his two, seven-year-old sons, with him and made them to act in Tiktok videos. She added that he had stopped education and Quranic learning of her sons.

She prayed before the court in the petitions that she along with her children may be maintained by the defendant and that custody of her two sons may be granted to her so that she may put them back in school and seminary.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2020