Legal dispute over Indian Sikh woman Sarabjit Kaur’s marriage in Pakistan reaches High Court
By Ravi Jakhu
Lahore (Pakistan), February 24, 2026: A fresh legal controversy has surfaced in Pakistan over the reported nikah of an Indian Sikh woman, Sarabjit Kaur, after her Indian husband challenged the marriage before the Lahore High Court.
Karnail Singh, the woman’s husband in India, has filed a petition through his counsel, Advocate Ali Changezi Sandhu, seeking annulment of her alleged marriage to a Pakistani national, Nasir Hussain. The petition claims that the second marriage is unlawful as no formal divorce was obtained from her first husband.
According to the plea, Sarabjit Kaur remains legally married under Indian law, and entering into another marriage without a judicial divorce violates both constitutional provisions and principles cited from Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court.
The petition further argues that under Pakistani law, a married non-Muslim woman intending to marry a Muslim man must fulfill specific legal and religious conditions.
These include obtaining a lawful divorce under the laws of her home country, formally inviting her existing spouse to accept Islam in the presence of witnesses, and observing a mandatory 90-day waiting period if the spouse refuses — before a subsequent marriage can be considered valid.
The petitioner contends that none of these procedures were followed, rendering the nikah legally void. The plea urges the court to declare the Pakistani marriage invalid and recognize the subsisting Indian marriage.
The case has sparked debate in legal and religious circles in both countries, with a hearing expected in the