The Delhi High Court has sought a response from Delhi Police and a Muslim man over a petition filed by his wife seeking to declare a notice of ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ sent to her as “void and unconstitutional”.
Talaq-e-Hasan is a form of ‘triple talaq’ by which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing ‘talaq’ at three separate intervals — the gap being least one month or one menstrual cycle.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued a notice to the Delhi Police Commissioner and the SHO of Dabri police station on the woman’s petition to protect her from religious groups that permit and propagate such practices, and from those who are forcing her to accept Talaq-e-Hasan.
The woman, in her plea, stated that even though she and her husband were in a relationship prior to their ‘love marriage’ in September 2020, her husband never stopped his parents from demanding dowry or expensive gifts again and again.
Domestic violence case
She said as her husband and in-laws became more demanding, inflicting physical and mental torture on her, she filed a domestic violence complaint against her husband with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) in September 2021 and later lodged an FIR at the Dabri police station in December 2021.
To avoid any action against him and his family, the husband took the route of Talaq-e-Hasan and sent her the first notice on June 2 “just to force her to withdraw all legal action against him”, said advocate Shubham Jha, representing the woman.
‘Arbitrary practice’
Advocate Jha said Talaq-e-Hasan notice is not only “arbitrary, illegal and an abuse of law” but also a unilateral extrajudicial act, which directly infringes upon Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 of the Constitution
The woman further contended that Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, does not secure for her the protection from bigamy, which has been statutorily secured for other Indian women belonging to other religions.
She said that bigamous marriage has been made punishable among Christians by Christian Marriage Act, 1872, amongst Parsis by Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, and amongst Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains by Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
“The legislature has failed to ensure the dignity and equality of women in general and Muslim women in particular when it concerns matters of marriage, divorce and succession,” her plea said. The High Court will hear the case next on August 18.
