Will examine validity of extrajudicial divorce like 'Talaq-e-Hasan': Apex court

The Supreme Court said on Thursday it will examine the larger constitutional issue of challenge to the validity of extrajudicial divorce like TalaqeHasan among MuslimsTalaqeHasan is a form of divorce by which a man can dissolve the marriage by pronouncing the word talaq once every month over a threemonth periodUnder TalaqeHasan a divorce gets formalised after the third utterance of the word talaq in the third month if cohabitation has not resumed during this period However if cohabitation resumes after the first or second utterance of talaq the parties are assumed to have reconciledA bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala which was hearing a batch of eight pleas challenging extrajudicial divorce including one filed by Ghaziabad resident Benazeer Heena however said it will not go into individual matrimonial disputesSince the court is seized of a constitutional challenge it is clarified that the petitioner Heena and the ninth respondent her husband who have already approached diverse forums to address their matrimonial issues and thus any issue unrelated to the constitutional issue will not be taken on record the bench saidIt asked advocate Kanu Agarwal appearing for the Centre to prepare a tabulated chart on the relief being sought in other petitions in the batch and place it before the court on the next date of hearingAt the outset senior advocate Shyam Divan appearing for Heena said at the last hearing her husband was asked to be present and now an affidavit has been filed which has all the facts related to the matrimonial dispute that needs to be struck off the recordAdvocate MR Shamshad appearing for the husband said the courts below have asked her to file income related documents which she has not and is espousing a personal grievance in the form of a PILHas she been given Talaq or not If she has been given Talaq she can very well challenge it We have to see what the basis for the challenge is the court saidDivan contended the matrimonial aspect is irrelevant to the constitutional issue at handShamshad said all the petitions in the batch have sought extrajudicial divorce to be held illegal and a plea with similar prayer had earlier been rejected by the apex courtAlso read SC refuses to direct Kerala HC to take up plea against The Kerala StoryAgarwal said the generic prayers in the pleas are regarding constitutional validity of the provisions of the 1937 Shariat Act We will not go into matrimonial disputes herewe are on the challenge to the extrajudicial divorces like TalaqeHasan and we will look into it the bench saidThe top court then asked the counsel for Heenas husband to withdraw the affidavit containing individual facts related to their matrimonial disputeShamshad said the Shariat Act does not regulate any kind of Talaq like section 29 of Hindu Marriage Act The bench said That is your defence You argue when the issue will be taken upOn October 11 last year the top court had admitted the pleas seeking TalaqeHasan and all other forms of unilateral extrajudicial divorce to be declared unconstitutionalThe top court had asked the Centre National Commission for Women National Human Rights Commission and others to file their responses All the petitions have mostly sought a direction to the Centre to frame the guidelines for gender and religionneutral and uniform grounds of divorce and procedure for all citizensIn August 2017 a constitution bench had by a majority decision held the practice of instant Triple Talaq TalaqeBiddat as unconstitutional and violative of Article 14 and 15 of the ConstitutionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever