Women in pre-colonial times were innocent victims of perpetual patriarchy in society, they were caught in the clutches of tradition and femininity, which led to their enslavement and abandonment of their desires sexual. Ismat Chugtai's Lihaf, published in 1942, deals with women's sexual frustration and unconventional versus heteronormative sexual relationships. I intend to show that Chugtai's Lihaf examines the contained and objectified existence of women in patriarchy, with special reference to Begum Jan, due to the restriction of movement and expression. The persistent oppression and abandonment of her sexual desire leaves Begum Jan despondent and sexually frustrated and she subsequently explores the faculty of female sexual desire and a fulfilling companionship with Rabbu redeems her. The narrator in the story tells us about Begum Jan being "given" in marriage to a rich old Nawab and how she was "installed in his house along with the furniture", establishing the fact that the patriarchal institution of marriage dehumanized women and he exposed them as objects devoid of desires and emotions. Begum Jan's parents probably thought of this unmatched marriage as a favorable economic option to fulfill the social obligation of getting their daughter married and for Nawab it was a mark of social approval and a means to hide his homosexuality. The fact that the narrator's mother did not allow her to play with boys and her belief that the female gender was kept under lock and key shows how, in the story, women have also internalized the idea of ​​systemic patriarchy. The Nawab imprisoned his wife in the house and did not let her go and visit other people. He spared her no time and left her to 'languish in solitude' while... middle of paper... conventional boundaries of heteronormative desires illustrated same-sex relationships as normal and equally probable. Through her story, she tries to bring out the hypocrisy in the society where female sexual desire is limited compared to male sexual desire as Nawab's desire for young boys is public but is still considered "pious" and as the desire of Begum Jan who is restricted under the Lihaf is mocked and scorned in social gatherings. In conclusion, we can say that the greater the oppression, the stronger the need for rebellion and expression. Denial or repression of sexual urges can lead to unconventional relationships like the one between Rabbu and Begum Jan. Viewing such holistic relationships as unnatural or unacceptable, especially in the case of women, is absolutely unjustifiable because they are as normal as male-female relationships..