Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

After having declared triple talaq unconstitutional the SC is now going to decide on polygamy and Nikah halala next. This comes seven months after the triple talaq debate.

‘Nikah halala’ is the requirement of a divorced couple to remarry. Apart from polygamy and Nikah halala, the government is also challenging Nikah Mutah or temporary marriage in the Shias and Nikah misyar or the short-term marriage among the Sunnis. The plea heard by the bench led by CJI Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar, and DY Chandrachud has said the matter will be heard by a constitution bench and has also directed the chief justice to decide on a bench to hear the case.

The position of the plea is that these practices degrade a woman and present her as being inferior to man. The court has also ordered that all the petitions be presented on a Central agency. The court has issued a notice to the centre to make their stand on the matter clear. The petitions challenge Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law or the Shariat. These practices were also questioned in various petitions which discredited triple talaq as well. But the court had decided to hear these petitions at a later stage. The Muslim Personal Law Board had declared such practices as ‘undesirable’ in the triple talaq case in its affidavit.

These practices are coming under the radar because they are biased towards the man. Nikah Mutah or Nikah Misyar in actual terms is, in fact, a ‘pleasure marriage’ which might be a verbal and temporary contract. The duration of the marriage and the ‘mahr’ in these marriages is decided between the parties prior to the marriage. While Nikah Mutah is practiced amongst the Shias, the Nikah Misyar among the Sunnis. The argument is that many scholars within Islam have already disapproved of these practices and have in some cases forbidden them, it’s just a matter of making it a law so that no one misuses the practice.

By Sahitya