NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday granted four weeks’ time to the Centre to file its reply to a batch of petitions on the triple talaq case. The bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice D Y Chandrachud gave the time on the request of Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar.
The solicitor-general had sought time mentioning that the Centre had to file its response to a suo motu writ petition filed on the direction of the apex court on the issue of the right of Muslim women in matrimonial matters.
On September 2, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told the Supreme Court that personal laws of a community cannot be rewritten in the name of social reforms and opposed pleas on issues such as the gender discrimination faced by Muslim women in divorce cases.
The AIMPLB, in its counter affidavit filed in the apex court, had said the contentious issue relating to Muslim practices of polygamy, triple talaq and nikah halala are matters of “legislative policy” and cannot be interfered with. The Board also said that practices provided by the Muslim personal law on the issues of marriage, divorce and maintenance were based on the holy scripture Quran and “courts cannot supplant its own interpretations over the text of scriptures”.
Regarding polygamy, the Board’s affidavit said though Islam permitted it, it does not encourage ithe paractice and referred to various reports, including World Development Report 1991, which said that polygamy percentage among tribals, Buddhists and Hindus were 15, 8 and 5.80 per cent respectively compared with 5.73 per cent among Muslims.
AIMPLB and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had defended triple talaq and said it was part of Quran-dictated personal law which was beyond the ambit of judicial scrutiny.
Course for lawyers
Amid controversies surrounding triple talaq and polygamy, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has decided to hold a training course on the Muslim personal law for lawyers. Jamiat said over hundred eminent jurists and Islamic scholars would participate in the event. The training programme will cover issue such as marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, testament and auqaf etc. Jamiat also plans to hold similar conferences in all states.