NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine a contentious issue whether Muslims can be governed by secular Indian succession law to deal with ancestral properties instead of Shariat without renouncing their faith.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar took note of a plea filed by Naushad K K, a resident of Kerala's Thrissur district, that he wanted to be governed by the succession law instead of Shariat without leaving Islam as his religion.
It issued notices to the Centre and the Kerala government on his plea and asked them to file their responses.
The bench ordered tagging of the plea with similar pending cases on the issue.
Earlier in April last year, the bench had agreed to consider a plea of Safiya P M, a resident of Alappuzha and general secretary of 'Ex-Muslims of Kerala', that she is a non-believer Muslim woman and wanted to deal with her ancestral properties properties under the succession laws instead of Shariat.
Safiya said that as per Shariat law, a Muslim person cannot inherit more than one-third of his or her properties by way of Will. "Her father cannot bequeath more than one-third of the property to her and the remaining two-third will go to her brother who was suffering from Down's syndrome," she stated in her plea.
Safiya, in her petition, said that she has a daughter and after the her death, the entire property will not go to her daughter as her father's brothers will also get a claim.
During an earlier hearing in the top court, the Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, senior lawyer representing the Centre, said the plea raised an interesting question of law, which should be adjudicate upon by this Court.
Mehta further said that she has only one daughter and wanted to bequeath the entire property to her daughter, but Shariat law allows only 50 per cent of the inheritance. “She wants the benefit of the Indian Succession Act, the secular law," he said.
Safiya, in her petition, said, as per Sharia law, the person who leaves her faith in Islam, will be ousted from her community and thereafter she is not entitled for any inheritance right in her parental property.
Safiya claimed that she strongly believes that the practices under Sharia law are “highly discriminatory towards Muslim women” and hence it violates the basic fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution.
Another similar plea filed in 2016 by 'Quran Sunnat Society' is also pending in the top court which will now hear the three petitions together.