Lucknow: No personal law is above Constitution and triple talaq is a violation of the fundamental rights given to citizens, the Allahabad high court ruled on Tuesday. The verdict comes amid the Centre’s push for a ban on the contentious practice on grounds of gender equality and justice.
The court said the rights of any person, including Muslim women, cannot be violated in the name of personal law or on the basis of gender, adding that triple talaq cannot infringe upon a woman’s fundamental rights given to her under the Constitution. Any fatwa that is against law cannot be accepted, the court also said.
“A Muslim husband cannot give divorce in such a manner which would put a question mark on the woman’s equal rights,” the court said. A single-judge bench of Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani said that the human rights of women and of girls were an “inalienable, integral and indivisible” part of universal human rights.
The court was hearing the petition of a Varanasi woman who had accused her husband of torturing her for dowry and then divorcing her. The husband had approached the high court against the complaint. The court dismissed his petition.
The husband had contended that he has divorced his wife and also procured a fatwa in this regard by the Darul Ifta Jama Masjid in Agra.
Fatwa against rights not valid: HC
The court said personal law can only be applicable under the provisions of Constitution, adding that any fatwa, which is contrary to the justice system or someone's rights, was not valid. The SC is hearing a clutch of petitions for a ban on triple talaq. A five-judge Constitution bench will hear the matter on May 11.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has opposed a blanket ban on the practice, accusing Centre of trying to kill the country's plurality.
The NGO that oversees the application of Muslim personal law has said that it would end triple talaq within 18 months, but resisted any interference from the government.
