Fact-check: Supreme Court has not ruled that mothers lose custody upon remarriage

A TikTok video with hundreds of thousands of views claims that the Supreme Court of Pakistan recently ruled that if a woman remarries, she will automatically lose custody of her children from a previous marriage, with custody transferred to the father.

The claim is false. No such judgment has been passed by the top court in recent months.

Claim

On June 10, a TikTok user alleged: “According to the recent order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a father is best suited to raise children and no other person or stepfather can be the guardian of the children except the father.”

The user further implied that the court decided children should live with their father if the mother remarries, adding: “So the children were taken from the mother and handed over to the father.”

At the time of writing, the video had been viewed over 202,000 times, liked more than 15,600 times, and shared over 1,140 times.

Fact

The claim is false. No such recent judgment has been issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Geo Fact Check reviewed all orders passed by the apex court since May, when the claim began circulating. Only one relevant case was found, and it contradicted the viral claim.

In that case, the father of two children, aged seven and eight, had petitioned the Lahore High Court Multan for custody. His petition was dismissed in favour of the mother, after which he approached the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in a judgment authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, upheld the mother’s custody. The court ruled that a child is not a passive recipient of adult decisions but an active rights-holder whose voice must be heard and no alternative caregiver can replicate the intuitive care and emotional constancy of a mother.

The judgment also added that a mother’s employment does not diminish her suitability as a custodian, rather, it demonstrates resilience and commitment to providing a secure and nurturing upbringing.

The court ordered that custody remain with the mother, granting the father visitation rights. Notably, both parents had remarried, yet the court did not make its decision on that basis. Instead, it emphasised that family courts must always prioritise the child’s best interests and respect the child’s voice in custody and guardianship matters.

 Verdict: The claim is false. The Supreme Court has not ruled that mothers automatically lose custody upon remarriage. On the contrary, the court reaffirmed that custody decisions must prioritise the child’s welfare.

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