What to Do to Get Back or Return Dowry Items After Khula?

Question: My wife has taken khula. Now she has filed a claim for dowry items (jahez), and according to the list, that dowry is not with her in that amount, but the wife has claimed more.

Answer: You will have appointed your counsel, your lawyer — if you are telling the truth, then keep in mind that the advantage is on your side. There are cases where a wife has demanded one and a half crore rupees' worth of dowry items, and thank God, the very decree that was issued was based on the list given — [stating] that this is the dowry we have with us, she may come and take it whenever she wants. Now, for this, a strategy needs to be adopted. Proving the truth to be the truth is unfortunately very difficult in this country, but it is not among the impossible things.

Go to your counsel, your lawyer, and formally tell him to:

Submit an application on your behalf to the judge in this case, along with a list of the dowry items that are with you, and — the law allows for this — offer in that application that you are prepared to take an oath, prepared to take an oath on the Qur'an, that you have these dowry items according to the list, and that you are ready to return them at any time.

Submit an application in court that your former wife's family is deliberately not collecting this dowry — that this dowry is lying with you — so either the court directs your former wife to collect this dowry, or a warehouse be rented and the wife's belongings be kept there. If you are proven truthful, the former wife will pay the rent for that warehouse, and if you are proven false, its rent will be your responsibility.

These are the steps that need to be prepared before filing any case — by 'you' I mean your lawyer, appoint counsel who will ask you all of this, who will tell you all of this — these are the steps, these are the documents needed, these are the matters — once you yourself understand that my suggestions, my case, have gone into this much depth, that is when they ask you for their professional fee, and the professional fee should be paid.

There are countless cases where counsel is engaged by paying a fee of ten or fifteen thousand rupees, and after ruining the case entirely, they come back and say, take whatever you want from us, just fix our case. In such matters, have some mercy on yourself — explain the matter to the lawyer first, and then understand what he is going to do. If a counsel does not explain things to you, does not tell you, it means he will not handle it himself — he will handle the case by asking someone else. So engage a competent lawyer. Once you do, all these matters are within his knowledge, and he fights your case in the best possible way.