LUCKNOW: Even after the Supreme Court struck down triple talaq calling it illegal and unconstitutional, the custom is very much prevalent in the country. In Bareilly, a woman is caught in an intriguing situation as she wants to reunite with her previous husband, but the person with whom she performed halala following the provisions of Sharia is refusing to divorce her.
Khatima resident Aqil Ahmad had married off his daughter Juhi to Moahmmad Javed of Bareilly in 2010. The couple had two sons. After three years, Juhi and Javed divorced in 2013. However, a few days after the separation, Javed went back to Juhi for reconciliation, which was accepted by Juhi.
But, in came the Sharia provision of nikah halala — the divorced woman needs to enter in a wedlock with another man and consummate the marriage before she can return to her first husband.
Juhi's relatives arranged for her to marry a 65-year-old man from Bareilly under the condition that he would divorce her soon after the marriage so that she can reunite with Javed. But, the man later refused to divorce Juhi, alleging that he couldn't do so as she did not perform halala by consummating the marriage.
While Javed and Juhi are caught in a fix, the couple's two sons seem to be worst affected by this turn of events. One of the two sons live with Javed and the other with Juhi. The couple finally approached an NGO. Activists tried to persuade Juhi's second husband to grant her divorce, but he remained firm in his stand.
While some ulemas (Muslim clerics) say that it is the right of the woman to seek divorce and advise the couple to go to a Sharia court for justice, Mufti Ghulam Mustafa Rizvi of Ala Hazrat Dargah of Bareilly claims that the person with whom the woman performs halala remains her husband till he grants her divorce. "The Sharia also suggests that if it the talaq was pre-decided and the deal was that divorce will be given the next day of marriage, in such a case, the marriage stands annulled on its own," he said. "But if this condition was not there before marriage, the elderly man will remain the husband till he grants divorce."