Supreme Court issues notice on cricketer Mohammad Shami's wife's plea for uniform divorce laws

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to concerned respondents on the plea filed by Indian Cricket Team player Mohammad Shami's wife, Hasin Jahan, seeking to frame guidelines for "gender-neutral religion-neutral uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all".

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud tagged the plea with other similar petitions raising common issues.

The plea has been filed by advocate Deepak Prakash. The petitioner said that she is aggrieved by the unilateral form of extra-judicial Talaq, Talaq-Ul-Hasan, and has received a notice of 1st pronouncement of divorce under Talaq-Ul-Hasan dated July 23, 2022, issued by Mohammad Shami, husband of the Petitioner. Upon receiving such notice, the Petitioner contacted her near and dear ones, who also put forth their similar grievances, whereby their husbands had unilaterally divorced them, at their own whims and fancies.

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Thus, the petitioner has approached the court seeking adjudication of larger issues related to "Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of Unilateral Extra-Judicial Talaq" which are still prevalent and in force under the Muslim Personal Laws (Shariat), by way of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.

The Petitioner said that she is an aggrieved wife, subjected to the abuse of the draconian practices being followed under the Muslim Personal Laws (Shariat), wherein, except Talaq-e Biddat, there exist numerous other forms of unilateral Divorce, known as Talaq, which provide unfettered powers over the Muslim man, to divorce a Muslim woman, in a whimsical and capricious manner, without affording any right of reconciliation or being heard in any manner, to the Muslim women, being discriminatory on the basis of sex and gender, thereby violating the basic Fundamental Rights of the women, guaranteed under Article 14,15 and 21 in the Constitution of India, 1950.

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Notably, such forms of Talaq include one Talaq-E-Hassan also known as Talaq-Ul-Hassan, which is being grossly abused by Muslim men, as by way of this form of Talaq, the Muslim man has the unilateral extra-judicial form of power to make three pronouncements of talaq, spread over a period of three consecutive months, completing which, the marriage shall stand dissolved, without hearing the Muslim women, the plea said.

Therefore, the petitioner has sought to frame guidelines for "gender-neutral religion-neutral uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all". The petitioner also sought to declare the practice of "Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq" void and unconstitutional for being arbitrary, irrational and violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25.

The petition also sought to declare that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 is void and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, in so far as it validates the practice of "Talaq-E-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq".

The petition also sought to declare the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, void and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 in so far as it fails to secure for Muslim women the protection from "Talaq-E-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq".