IT is always encouraging to see the Supreme Court act with moral clarity on issues that often go unaddressed.

On Wednesday, the apex court slapped a Rs500,000 fine on apetitioner afterlearning that they had dragged their former spouse through three tiers of the justice system just to get out of returning their dower and paying maintenance.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi made no bones about how the top court saw the petitioner`s efforts to question his ex-wife`s status as a `female` by arguing that she was medically unfit for conjugal duties or bearing children and, therefore, should not be considered one. `This court cannot but record in the strongest possible terms its disapproval of the manner in which the respondent a woman already abandoned, denied maintenance and left to the mercy of litigation was subjected to repeated, invasive and demeaning scrutiny of her very personhood at the behest of a frivolous and cruel defence,` the chief justice observed in his order.

Disturbing though this case is, such cruelty against women is certainly not unheard of. We often see deep-seated, discriminatory biases harboured by society against individuals who do not conform to senseless patriarchal definitions of the `ideal female` expressed in violent ways. This is why the court`s stance, that biology cannot dictate legal personhood, is so essential in affirming equal rights. However, there is much more that can be done. This instance has highlighted that gender sensitivity training is needed at every tier of the justice system, so that such cases can be shut down well before they propagate harm. There is also a need to protect women legally from insidious attacks on their dignity. The Supreme Court has rightly taken a stand. It must now go a step further by initiating gender sensitivity training across the judiciary, so that women seeking justice are no longer forced to defend their dignity in courtrooms which do not empathise with them.