September 3, 2018:

Supreme Court has agreed to consider a fresh plea of a Muslim woman seeking to declare as unconstitutional setting up of Sharia courts to decide the marriage, divorce and other cases.

Apex Court Bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud asked petitioner Zikra to file an application to intervene as a party in a batch of pleas challenging the practice of polygamy and 'nikah halala' among Muslims.

Supreme Court, which had in 2017 banned age-old practice of instant 'triple talaq' among Sunni Muslims, had on March 26 decided to refer to a five-judge Constitution bench a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and 'nikah halala'.

Polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives. Under 'nikah halala', a man cannot remarry his former wife unless she marries another man, consummates the marriage, gets a divorce and observes a period of separation period called 'iddat'.

Zikra, a 21-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh and a mother of two, was represented by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.

She has demanded that triple talaq be declared "cruelty" under Section 498A and 'nikah halala, nikah mutah and nikah-misyar' rape under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code.

"Polygamy is an offence under Section 494 of the IPC," her plea read.

Muslim personal laws of India permit the practice of nikah halala and polygamy.

"Declare that establishing a Sharia court to decide cases related to marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, succession and/or other similar matters is illegal and unconstitutional," Zikra stated in the Plea.

The Muslim Personal Law, like all other personal laws, is subject to the rigours of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and "any part of it contravening the fundamental rights would, to that extent, is void and ineffective", she said.

Earlier, Apex Court had stated that the petitions challenged the prevalent practices of polygamy and 'nikah halala' and they would be heard by the Constitution bench.

Renctly, Centre had made it clear that it would oppose in Supreme Court the practice of 'nikah halala' when Apex Court would examine its legal validity in the coming days.

Source PTI

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