Triple talaq is unsustainable and bad in the eyes of law: Allahabad HC

May 10, 2017

The Allahabad high court observed that under Muslim personal law, marriage is a contract which cannot be rescinded orally or by giving a notice or by ex parte decision. The HC dismissed a petition by Aaqil Jamil, whose wife had filed a criminal complaint against him alleging that he had tortured her for dowry and when his demands were not met, he gave her triple talaq. Jamil had filed a petition asking the court to quash his wife's complaint arguing that he had given triple talaq to her in 2015. Thereafter, he obtained a fatwa from the city mufti of Agra, in which the latter affirmed the talaqnama and pronounced that his wife, after being divorced, has become impure (haraam) for Jamil. Hence, the complaint filed by his wife must be quashed because no marriage existed between the parties on the date of filing of complaint as per Islamic personal law. Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani said: & quot All citizens, including Muslim women, have fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Under the garb of personal law, rights of the citizens protected by the Constitution cannot be infringed. Hence, such a practice is unsustainable and bad in the eyes of law.& quot The court also made an important observation on the practice of 'nikah halala' , an Islamic marriage ritual which involves a woman divorcee marrying someone else, consummating the marriage and then getting a divorce in order to make it permissible to remarry her previous husband. & quot No lady can be compelled to marry some other person in case she wants to marry her husband again after talaq. This condition to marry another person before remarriage with earlier husband is humiliating and against the dignity of a lady protected by Article 21 of the Constitution of India,& quot the judge said.