o haraj

Sexual violence perpetrated by the husband is one of prevalent forms of domestic violence. Women victims of marital sexual violence take action for divorce. Because the law does not recognize sexual violence as a legitimate reason for divorce, they file Osro-Haraj lawsuits. Because the legislature has left the determination for such cases to judicial interpretation, there is rampant disagreement among judges. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors influence judicial interpretations of Osro-Haraj in divorce cases due to marital sexual violence. To find the answer to this question, the case study method was utilized, including in-depth interviews with 10 judges, 10 lawyers and 35 victims, content analysis of verdicts and non-participatory observation by attending court hearings. The findings reveal that judicial interpretations are influenced by factors such as the judicial stereotypes, policies that aim to keep divorce statistics low, the male-dominated nature of family courts, the wife's reluctance to forgo dowry, etc. The above-stipulated factors preclude the judicial system from recognizing marital sexual violence as a form of Osro-Haraj. In addition to amending and revising the divorce laws, protection of martial violence victims requires a transformation in the male-dominated nature of the courts by appointing female judges.

“Osr-o Haraj” [hardship and fault] is a progressive Islamic jurisprudence rule which can be used for various issues and problems. One of the applications of the rule is in the case of divorce, where the woman, after proving the hardships of living with the man, can ask for divorce. However, so far the rule has only been used in the case of marriage in the Islamic law. After the Islamic Revolution, the instances of the application of the rule have undergone deep changes. This paper studies and evaluates laws concerning non-financial affairs of the family such as Osr-o Haraj, contraction conditions, and custody and explains the advantages of contraction conditions of article 1130 of the Iranian Civil Law. In this paper, in addition to studying the law in various stages and presenting statistics from family courts, the writer proposes the related legal vacuums and appropriate suggestions.