Supreme Court issues notice to husband on Muslim woman’s plea challenging Talaq-e-Hasan
29 August, 2022 | Vaishali Sharma
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued notices to spouses in two distinct petitions brought by two different Muslim women challenging Talaq-e-Hasan. The matter has been scheduled for October 11 by a b...
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued notices to spouses in two distinct petitions brought by two different Muslim women challenging Talaq-e-Hasan.
The matter has been scheduled for October 11 by a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka. The court noticed in one of the petitions that the petitioner is willing to seeking a settlement, thus the spouse was impleaded as a party in the matter.
According to one of the petitioners, the way Talaq is administered is akin to a landlord delivering an eviction notice. She further informed the court that these notices are being sent to her on behalf of her spouse by a third party.
The court stated that it wishes to resolve the matter first.
Two different Muslim women have filed separate petitions asking the court to declare the practise of “Talaq-E-Hasan and all other kinds of unilateral extra-judicial talaq” unlawful.
The petition filed by Muslim women sought appropriate direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for “Gender Neutral Religion Neutral Uniform Grounds of Divorce & Uniform Procedure of Divorce for all citizens”.
One plea sought to issue direction to declare the practice of “Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq” as void and unconstitutional for being arbitrary, irrational and violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25.
The petitioner, a Mumbai resident, stated that she is a victim of unilateral Extra-Judicial Talaq-E-Hasan and that she is filing this public interest litigation for the development of socially-economically downtrodden and marginalised women of the society, who are mostly humiliated by their husbands through illegal, arbitrary, and unjust forms of Talaq, which are widely practised by Muslim men to harass and torture their wives for one or more reasons.
The petition further requested that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 be declared void and illegal for violating Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25, insofar as it endorses the practise of “Talaq-E-Hasan and other kinds of unilateral extra-judicial talaq.”
The petition also sought to declare the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, illegal and unconstitutional for violating Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25 by failing to safeguard Muslim women from “Talaq-E-Hasan and other kinds of unilateral extra-judicial talaq.”
The fresh petition also sought to direct and declare Nikah halala (tahleel marriage) void and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 of the Constitution of India; e) direct the Centre to frame guidelines for Gender Neutral Religion Neutral Uniform Grounds of Divorce & Uniform Procedure of Divorce for all.
Earlier a plea was filed in the Supreme Court by a Muslim woman seeking to declare that “Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of Unilateral Extra-Judicial Talaq” as unconstitutional and sought to issue direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for Gender Neutral Religion Neutral Uniform Grounds of Divorce and Uniform Procedure of Divorce for all. That petition has been filed by one Muslim woman, who claimed to be a journalist as well as a victim of Unilateral Extra-Judicial Talaq-E-Hasan.