Supreme Court Seeks Centre’s Reply on Uniform Talaq Safeguards, Challenges Talaq-e-Hasan

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking uniform safeguards for all forms of talaq under Muslim personal law, including a challenge to the validity of Talaq-e-Hasan.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi reportedly tagged the plea with a separate pending petition filed by a Muslim woman challenging the validity of Talaq-e-Hasan pronounced by her husband.

The petitioner’s counsel told the bench that the fresh plea also challenges the validity of the divorce practice and seeks enforceable guidelines to protect women’s fundamental rights.

Plea Seeks Ban on Unilateral Divorce Practices

The petition has urged the authorities to declare Talaq-e-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq an evil that needs to be banned.

It has also sought adequate economic and social protection for divorced women and their children affected by arbitrary divorce practices, with the measures applying retrospectively and on an ongoing basis.

The plea asks the Centre to frame and implement uniform procedural safeguards governing all forms of divorce under Muslim personal law. These safeguards, it says, should ensure fairness, reconciliation and transparency while protecting women’s fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.

Petition Challenges Shariat Act Provision

The petitioner has sought a declaration that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, is unconstitutional insofar as it recognises and validates Talaq-e-Hasan as a form of divorce as per reports.

Article 14 guarantees equality before the law, while Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds including religion, race, caste and sex. Article 21 protects life and personal liberty.

Plea Raises Questions Over Polygamy and Consent

The petition has also challenged the absence of statutory safeguards regulating polygamy under Muslim personal law. It argues that allowing a Muslim man to contract multiple marriages without ensuring equality, dignity, informed consent, financial security and constitutional protection for existing wives is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21. 

The petitioner has further sought a declaration that contracting a subsequent marriage without the existing spouse’s free, prior and informed consent, while concealing or suppressing the intention to marry again, is arbitrary and unconstitutional.

How Talaq-e-Hasan Works

Talaq-e-Hasan reportedly allows a Muslim man to dissolve a marriage by pronouncing the word talaq once a month over three months.

The divorce is formalised after the third pronouncement in the third month if the couple has not resumed cohabitation during that period. If cohabitation resumes after the first or second pronouncement, the parties are considered to have reconciled.

The Supreme Court’s consideration of the plea comes against the backdrop of its 2017 judgment declaring instant triple talaq unconstitutional after finding the practice arbitrary and violative of women’s fundamental rights.