PESHAWAR, July 26: Though the Peshawar High Court had proposed two years ago to introduce severe penalty to curb inhuman tradition of handing over girls as compensation for settling disputes, no step has yet been taken by the government to enact a law in this regard.

Legal circles say that in early 2001, a division bench of the Peshawar High Court had dismissed a writ petition and declared that the tradition of “Swara” (handing over girls in marriage for settling disputes) as illegal and inhuman.

Recently another bench of the Peshawar High Court had allowed the dissolution of the marriage on an application of a girl who was given in “Swara” to the rival group for settling a domestic dispute.

In its earlier judgment, the Peshawar High Court bench headed by Justice Khalida Rachied had ruled that the tradition of Swara was violative of Section 310 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The petition had been filed by Hamesh Gul, a resident of Daggar, Buner district. He had challenged a verdict of the family court, Daggar, pronounced on Oct 3, 2000, in which the court had dissolved the marriage of Ms Bukht Mena with the petitioner.

The woman, Bukht Meena, was given in Nikkah to Hamesh Gul 25 years ago as Swara for settlement of a dispute of murder allegedly committed by her aunt, Ms Khaista Jan, and uncle Ziarat Gul.

After reaching the age of maturity, the petitioner (Hamesh Gul) didn’t wish to make arrangements for her “Rukhsati” but preferred Bukht Meena to remain at her parents’ home without being given any financial assistance. Instead, Hamesh married another woman from whom he had children.

Bakht Meena filed a petition in the family court seeking dissolution of her marriage which was accepted by the trial court and it ordered dissolution of her marriage with Hamesh.

The high court bench also defined the meaning of “Swara”, and stated: “This is a Pushto word that means ‘to ride’. This tradition evolved in olden days, when the conqueror clan with the booty, also used to capture the women of the conquered clan. Women were taken to the conqueror camp riding a camel or a horse. Following the same tradition, in some class of our society, disputes are settled in the same manner. The defeating party receives the same treatment when a settlement is made between two conflicting parties, especially in murder cases.”

The court had observed that to eradicate this menace from society once and for all, there should be a severe penalty for such an oppressed act.

The high court had also directed the subordinate courts not to accept such a condition for settlement of blood feuds.

The bench had termed the said custom an extreme form of “bidat” flourishing in society.