SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2004
No food at Pak weddings: SC
IANS
ISLAMABAD: Wedding guests in Pakistan will henceforth go hungry. They can be served only soft drinks or tea, coffee and other hot drinks, the Supreme Court has ruled.
No meals or any other edibles can be served, a three-judge bench of the court ruled, Dawn reported Saturday.
The order came on a petition challenging various sections of an act passed by the Punjab assembly on serving food at weddings.
"The court said that no person owning or running a hotel, restaurant, wedding hall, community centre or club being the site of marriage ceremony, or any caterer, shall serve or allow anyone to serve any meals or edibles to persons participating in the ceremony, other than hot and cold soft drinks," Dawn reported.
The Supreme Court also revoked the Punjab government's permission to entertain guests with one dish.
"The federal government's law of prohibiting meals at (wedding) receptions still holds and, therefore, is applicable throughout Pakistan," said the 23-page judgement.
Authored by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, the judgement invalidated the Punjab government's act to allow serving of one dish to a maximum of 300 guests at wedding receptions.
"The chief justice also observed that functions related to marriage such as mayun/rasm-i-henna, baraat and the custom of giving large dowries were of Hindu origin and had nothing to do with the Islamic concept of marriage," Dawn reported.
"Social evils emanating from such exploitative customs have not only added to the misery of the poor but have also put at stake their very existence," it said, quoting the judgement.
The order also deplored the custom of displaying dowry before guests and held that open demands for dowries had crushed the middle and poor segments of society.
"Such evils of extravagance and ostentatious displays of wealth are unacceptable as they are against all norms and values known to a civil society and therefore must stop," the chief justice observed.
"It is the duty of the state to encourage the celebration of marriage ceremonies in simple and informal ways like performance of Nikah in a local mosque to eliminate inconvenience and harm to society," the order said.
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