On Friday, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) submitted a reply before the Supreme Court saying that personal laws cannot be challenged or rewritten in the name of social reforms as that would violate of Part III of the Constitution, reported
ANI.
According to a report by
Times Now, AIMPLB said that Article 44 is only a directive and is not enforcibly implying that the courts cannot interfere in the matter.
According to a report by
Zee News, AIMPLB told the apex court, "When serious discords develop in a marriage and husband wants to get rid of the wife, legal compulsions and time-consuming judicial process....in extreme cases husband may resort to illegal criminal ways of getting rid of her by murdering her. In such situations `triple talaq` is a better recourse."
This plea that arrives before the Supreme Court is slated to take a hearing on the 'triple
talaq' matter (unilateral instant divorce where the the husband pronounces the word '
talaq' thrice and causes separation) on 6 September. The top court is presiding over the matter after taking up plea filed by
Shayara Bano of Uttarakhand.
The apex court is also going to make a ruling on
halala (remarriage to the same partner after the divorced woman consummates her marriage with another man and gets divorced) and polygamy.
Representational image. Getty Images
These practices have been deemed unconstitutional by many, and various petitions by women and other supportive pleas filed by Muslim women organisations have made their to the Supreme Court.
Part III of the Indian Constitution contains a charter of fundamental rights of the citizens of India. It guarantees civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India, The civil liberties are equality before law, freedom of speech and expression, and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion, and the right to constitutional remedies for the protection of civil rights by means of writs such as habeas corpus.
In December, a bench headed by Chief Justice, commented on the matter of 'triple
talaq' and stated, "If a victim of triple
talaq comes to the court and questions the validity of the… procedure, we can surely examine the legality of triple
talaq and find out whether it violated her fundamental rights."
In the past there have been various instances where this matter has been raised before the court of law like the 'Shamim Ara vs State of UP' and 'Shah Bano maintenance case' which resulted in Parliament passing a law which overrides a Supreme Court verdict giving a divorced Muslim woman a better maintenance than what she got before under personal laws.
