Sharia Body Can't Determine Muslim Woman's Marital Status Or Dissolve Marriage: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that a private religious body styling itself as an “Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court” has no legal authority to adjudicate upon the marital status or legal rights and obligations of individuals.

While leaving the constitutional validity of Talaq-e-Hasan open noting that some matters were pending before the Supreme Court, the Court emphasised that no religious institution or private body can be permitted to use religious belief as a means of determining or enforcing the legal status and rights of an individual.

Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad was hearing a writ petition filed challenging an order dated 18 January 2022 issued by the respondent no. 9, Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court, by which it had purportedly declared that Petitioner had been divorced by way of Triple Talaq. She also challenged the existence of the body as being in violation of the Constitution, Fundamental Rights to Life & Liberty, and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986.

The court said:

"Respondent No.9 cannot be recognised as a Court constituted under the Constitution or any statute. It has no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the marital status of the petitioner or to pass an order which, in law, determines whether the petitioner stands divorced from Respondent No.10. Consequently, the document/order dated 18.01.2022 issued by Respondent No.9 cannot have the legal effect attributed to it by the petitioner or Respondent No.10. It is, at best, a communication or religious opinion emanating from a private body and does not constitute a decree or judicial determination of dissolution of marriage. It neither creates, extinguishes nor alters any legally enforceable right or status of the petitioner...

Respondent No.9 is further held to have no jurisdiction to function as a Court constituted under the Constitution or any law enacted by a competent legislature, and any opinion, verdict or decision issued by it cannot be enforced by coercive process or treated as a binding adjudication of the civil or matrimonial rights of the parties..."

The court further observed:

After the death of her first husband, the petitioner married Respondent No. 10, who later alleged that children from the petitioner's first marriage were unable to adjust with the new family and, on that purported ground, the Petitioner was subjected to Talaq-e-Biddat/Triple Talaq.

Despite the registration of FIR and pendency of proceedings before the competent authorities, Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court passed the impugned order dated 18.01.2022.

On the issue of the authority of Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court, the Court held that it does not possess any legal authority to adjudicate upon and determine the marital status or legal rights and obligations of the petitioner.

Referring to the Supreme Court's decision in Vishwa Lochan Madan v. Union of India, the Court reiterated:

“… adjudicatory power must flow from a validly enacted law and that a Dar-ul-Qaza is neither created nor sanctioned by law. Consequently, the opinion or fatwa issued by such a body does not constitute adjudication by an authority forming part of the judicial system recognised by law.”

The Court further noted that the apex court had clarified that a fatwa is not binding and cannot be enforced through any coercive legal process. Furthermore, bodies issuing fatwas cannot assume the status or authority of Courts established under law.

“… the Hon'ble Supreme Court cautioned that no Dar-ul-Qaza or other institution, by whatever name called, should issue a verdict or fatwa touching upon the rights, status or obligations of an individual unless such individual has sought it, and further held that such a decision… is not binding and cannot be enforced by coercive process,” the Court remarked.

Applying these principles, the Court held that Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court cannot be recognised as a Court constituted under the Constitution or any statute, and that it has no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the marital status of the petitioner or pass an order that determines whether the petitioner stands divorced from her husband.

The Court clarified that its conclusion was confined to the competence and legal effect of the communication issued by the Idara-E-Shariya. Since the constitutional and legal questions concerning unilateral Talaq-e-Hasan were pending before the Supreme Court, the Court considered it inappropriate to pronounce upon its validity.

However, the Court held that the pendency of those proceedings could not confer jurisdiction upon the private body which it otherwise did not possess, nor could its purported decision be treated as a substitute for adjudication by a Court established under law.

Thus, the Court declared that the Idara-E-Shariya could not function as a Court constituted under the Constitution or any law and that its decisions could not be enforced through coercive process or treated as binding adjudications.

Accordingly, the Court allowed the writ petition in part and declared the communication dated 18 January 2022, insofar as it purported to determine or declare the petitioner's marital status or dissolve the marriage, to be without legal authority and incapable of conferring or altering any legal right, status or obligation.

Case Title: X v. Union of India & Ors.

[WPC No. 795 of 2022]

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