LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has denied relief to a man against a decision of a family judge requiring him to pay Rs50,000 as monthly maintenance to his minor autistic daughter.

Dismissing the petition of Dr Jawad Jan Arif, Justice Muhammad Shan Gul notes that the petitioner claims to be a neurosurgeon, who has served at eminent positions in Pakistan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

He states that the petitioner was lucratively employed in Saudi Arabia and in his own words his job served him well.

The maintenance so fixed has been ordered in respect of a differently-able child, who has special needs, over and above those generally associated with a typical child of this age.

Mother to get Rs50,000 per month for raising autistic daughter

The petitioner married the respondent, Dr Ayesha Chaudhry, in 2008 and out of the wedlock a daughter was born in 2016. He admitted that he worked till 2018 in Saudi Arabia from where he moved to Scotland in the United Kingdom and remained employed at a hospital as a neurosurgeon.

He returned to Pakistan in December, 2020, where after he learnt that his wife had obtained an ex parte decree of khula against him. He challenged the decree, but the reconciliation proceedings failed.

Justice Gul observes that autism is a lifelong state and it is not an illness but a neuro diversity, a different way of being. He notes that autistic individuals have lifelong needs, more so at the tender age of five.

The judge says that according to the medical journal, Jama Pediatrics, the total lifetime cost of supporting an autistic person is $1.4 million in the US. Such costs typically include an ongoing mix of special attention programmes, medical care and lost wages.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the mother of the child was a well-placed government doctor with a comfortable source of income and that this should have been a consideration for the family judge while passing the impugned order.

However, the judge observes that this argument is indeed naive and fails to take into account the fact that there is a huge gender gap in comparing a man who earns and without custody as opposed to a woman with an autistic child.

The judge further says that it seems that the good doctor (petitioner) is not acquainted with the hackneyed cliché of “no other love in the world being like the love of a father for his girl” or he misunderstands the meaning of the paternal bond between a father and a daughter.

“Writing this judgment has indeed caused great pain and anguish,” says Justice Gul.

“Seen from both angles, legal and equitable, the present petition betrays a rare kind of insensitivity and a disregard for law. Additionally, the dictates of the welfare of the autistic minor demand rejection of this petition,” the judge holds while dismissing the petition.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2021