Plea in SC challenging setting up of Sharia courts
Plea in SC challenging setting up of Sharia courts There is a debate going on, on Muslim Groups in India to open more Sharia religious courts to decide marriage, divorce and other cases and Muslim women in India are fighting against the setting of these courts. Recently, muslim women have filed a fresh plea to declare the setting of the Sharia religious court as unconstitutional and Supreme Court has decided to consider the fresh plea. Bench comprisies of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud have 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. Earlier Supreme Court has banned the tradition of ‘triple talaq’ and also decided that to refer to a five-judge Constitution batch of pleas. 21-year-old, Zikra, a mother of two is a resident of Uttar Pradesh and was represented by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay. She demanded that the triple talaq should be declared as cruelty under Section 498A and mutah and nikah-misyar' be declared as rape under section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. And Muslim religious laws permit the practice of nikah halala and polygamy. She was facing "triple talaq, nikah halala and other laws and practices", which she also mentioned in her petition as well. Zikra said in the plea, "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.” Also Read: Muslim women have found way to free themselves of practice of triple talaq: PM Modi Her plea further stated, “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. Nikah halala, nikah mutah, nikah misyar and polygamy definitely run counter to public order, morality and health. These laws must yield to the basic right of women to live with dignity, under equal protection of laws, without any discrimination on the basis of gender or religion.” -PTC NEWS
