Seeking Justice - KPK

Huma hails from KPK, where she was married in 2009. However her husband passed away shortly after, in 2010 and thereafter her in-laws took her gold and belongings away. After her mourning period (iddat) ended, in order to keep the property within the family, her in-laws tried to persuade her to marry her deceased husband’s younger brother. She refused and faced hostility for her decision. She filed a case in the family court in 2011 for her ‘Haq Mehar’ and dowry articles. For three years her in-laws did not appear in court and Huma had to drop the case in 2013. Her in-laws have been insisting that both parties turn to the jirga system to solve this case, for which Huma fears an unfair decision that supports society’s patriarchal narrative where she has to surrender her due share to her in-laws. When her second husband sent a marriage proposal, her former in-laws tried to prevent the marriage from taking place - a practice that had been followed for all marriage proposals she had received from 2010-2019. Huma is not only prohibited from entering the area and socially boycotted for marrying outside the family of her former in-laws, but also has suffered criminal intimidation from them as well. A few days after this documentary was filmed, Huma and her husband’s car was broken into and trashed. Her case has been going on for 10 years.